Paul Scraton was born in the north of England in 1979 and has lived in Berlin for more than 20 years. He is the author of a number of books both fiction and nonfiction, including Ghosts on the Shore: Travels along Germany’s Baltic Coast, Built on Sand, a novel set in Berlin that explores the lives of people living in the city and what home and belonging mean to them and In the Pines, a novella which traces the arc of a life on the edge of the forest, told through 22 very short stories which make up the chapters of the book.
His most recent book A Dream of White Horses (Bluemoose, 2024) is a story about journeys. The two strands of the narrative are Ben travelling from London to a small German island to see his friend Pascal, who is in his last days of his life. As he travels, he listens to voice notes from Pascal, each relating to a photograph from a different moment in his life.
Paul is the editor in chief of Elsewhere: A Journal of Place and his essays and short stories have appeared in The New Statesman, The Guardian, Literary Hub, The Lonely Crowd, SAND Journal and Metamorphosen, among many others. His work has been translated into German, Italian and Polish.
His short stories have been commissioned for exhibitions and events at the Halle in Berghain and the Literaturhaus in Berlin, and he has taught creative writing workshops in Germany, the UK and Ireland.
Swiss Creative Writing Prize 