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 and 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.
His most recent book is In the Pines, a novella published by Influx Press in 2021. Described as “haunting” by the Times Literary Supplement, the novella 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.
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 