Oliver Poetzsch, born in 1970, was for years a radio personality for Bavarian radio and a screenwriter for Bavarian Public Television. He is himself a descendent of the Kuisls, the well-known line of Bavarian executioners that inspired the novel. He lives with his family in Munich.
Lee Chadeayne is a former classical musician and college professor. He was one of the charter members of the American Literary Translators Association and is editor-in-chief of ALTA News.