Marc Elsberg

Austrian author

Marc Elsberg

Marcus Rafelsberger (2016)

Born| (1967-01-03)3 January 1967
Vienna, Austria
Occupation| Novelist
Nationality| Austrian
Alma mater| University of Applied Arts Vienna
Period| since 2000
Genre|

* satirical novel
* crime novel
* popular science

Marc Elsberg (born 3 January 1967, in Vienna, real name Marcus Rafelsberger) is an Austrian author. His works have been published by Blanvalet Verlag of the Penguin Random House publishing group since 2012. They have been translated into numerous languages and made into a series and a film.

## Life and education

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Marc Elsberg was born in Vienna in 1967.[1] After graduating in 1985, he began studying industrial design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.[2][3] Elsberg worked as a strategy consultant and creative director in the advertising industry,[4] among others in Vienna and Hamburg agencies.[5] He received awards for his work from the Creative Club Austria, among others.[6] At the same time, he began to create a column for the Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard under the title "No ad by Marcus Rafelsberger".[7] Since 2021, Marc Elsberg has been teaching "Storytelling" at the University of Applied Arts Vienna as a university lecturer.[8]

## Career

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Marc Elsberg made his literary debut in 2000, still under his civil name Marcus Rafelsberger, with the satirical novel Saubermann (Mr. Clean) published by Espresso-Verlag in Berlin, about a detergent's fictional advertising character becoming president.[9] In 2004, Emons Verlag in Cologne published Das Prinzip Terz a crime novel in which the eponymous detective must solve the death of the head of an advertising agency while becoming a murderer himself.[10] Other works under his civil name were Menschenteufel (2009) and Wienerherz (2011).[11]

In 2012, Elsberg achieved greater fame with the thriller Blackout – Tomorrow will be too late with the scenario of a widespread collapse of the power supply and its consequences.[12] The book was predominantly positively reviewed; among other things the Handelsblatt called it a "grippingly narrated thriller".[13] Bild der Wissenschaft [de] judged that the plot was "well researched and realistically portrayed".[14] In 2013, it was among the iBookstore's "10 books you have to read this summer",[15] and Blackout was also on Spiegel's bestseller list for several years.[16][17] At its peak, the book reached second place there in July 2013.[18] The novel has sold over 1.8 million copies in German-speaking countries alone. It has been translated into over a dozen languages.[19] Also, Blackout received Germany's 2012 Wissensbuch des Jahres [de] award in the entertainment category.[20] This is awarded by a jury of renowned science journalists on the initiative of Bild der Wissenschaft.[21] The book was filmed for a television series by Joyn/Sat.1 starring Moritz Bleibtreu.[citation needed]

In 2014 Elsberg's sixth novel entitled Zero – Sie wissen, was du tust [de] was published, dealing with Big data and data protection.[22] The title reached second place on the Spiegel bestseller list.[23] and was named Science Book of the Year in the "Entertainment" category. Elsberg was the first author to receive the award twice.[24] The Guardian called it "a thriller with its finger on the zeitgeist".[25] WDR secured the rights for its film adaptation. Heike Makatsch played the leading role.[26] In 2016, the seventh novel, titled Helix – Sie werden uns ersetzen [de], was published dealing with the subject of genetics.[27] It is an "exciting and educational scientific thriller" that combines scientific details with ethical issues.[28] This work also became a bestseller.[29] There are translated editions of Helix as well.

In 2019, his eighth novel Gier – Wie weit würdest du gehen? [de] was published, in which Elsberg dealt with economic concepts, findings, and theories and the consideration of whether comprehensive cooperation between economic partners and economic sectors would lead to broader prosperity.[30] He drew on scientific work on ergodicity economics by a group led by Ole Peters at the London Mathematical Laboratory,[31] supported by Nobel laureates Murray Gell-Mann and Ken Arrow, among others (afterword).[32] "Greed" reached third place on Spiegel's bestseller list.[33]

## Works

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### as Marcus Rafelsberger

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* Saubermann, Berlin: Espresso, 2000, ISBN 3-88520-781-8
* Das Prinzip Terz / Kommissar Terz' erster Fall, Köln: Emons, 2004, ISBN 3-89705-351-9
* Menschenteufel, Köln: Emons, 2009, ISBN 978-3-89705-668-8
* Wienerherz, Köln: Emons, 2011, ISBN 978-3-89705-839-2

### as Marc Elsberg

[edit]

* Blackout – Morgen ist es zu spät, München: Blanvalet, 2012, ISBN 978-3-7645-0445-8
* Zero – Sie wissen, was du tust, München: Blanvalet, 2014, ISBN 978-3-7645-0492-2
* Helix – Sie werden uns ersetzen, München: Blanvalet, 2016, ISBN 978-3-7645-0564-6
* Gier – Wie weit würdest du gehen?, München: Blanvalet, 2019, ISBN 978-3-7645-0632-2
* Greed. Black Swan, 2020. ISBN 9781784163471
* Der Fall des Präsidenten, München: Blanvalet, 2021, ISBN 978-3-7645-1047-3

## Notes and references

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1. ^ Marc Elsberg, Verlagsgruppe Random House, retrieved 31 March 2014
2. ^ Stockmann, Gabi (23 October 2013), "Ex-Biondekgassler als Bestseller-Autor", BezirksBlätter (in German), retrieved 31 March 2014
3. ^ Biondek-Literatur (in German), Badener Kulturgymnasium, retrieved 31 March 2014
4. ^ Zettel, Claudia (3 April 2012), "Ein totaler Stromausfall ist realistisch", futurezone (in German), retrieved 31 March 2014
5. ^ "Marcus Rafelsberger", Perlentaucher (in German), retrieved 31 March 2014
6. ^ Marcus Rafelsberger (in German), Amazon, retrieved 31 March 2014
7. ^ "Marc Elsberg", literaturtipps.de (in German), archived from the original on 7 April 2014, retrieved 31 March 2014
8. ^ Lehrende und MitarbeiterInnen: Elsberg, Marc Univ.-Lekt. (in German), Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, retrieved 28 January 2021
9. ^ Satirischer Roman (in German), Espresso, archived from the original on 24 September 2015, retrieved 31 March 2014
10. ^ Kijanski, Jörg (2007), "Das Prinzip Terz (Rezension)", Krimi-Couch (in German), retrieved 31 March 2014
11. ^ Neubacher, Alexander; Schulze, Tobias; Stürzenhofecker, Michael (2013), Dosenbrot und Kurbellampe, pp. 44–45
12. ^ Ramcke, Arnulf (15 July 2013), "Beklemmend und spannend: "Black Out" von Marc Elsberg", newsline (in German), Westdeutsche Zeitung, retrieved 1 April 2014
13. ^ "Die Welt ohne Strom", Handelsblatt (in German), 10 June 2012, retrieved 31 March 2014
14. ^ "Mutmachende Sieger: Die neu gewählten Wissensbücher des Jahres", Bild der Wissenschaft (in German), no. 12, p. 66, 2012, retrieved 1 April 2014
15. ^ "10 Bücher, die man diesen Sommer lesen muss" (PDF; 182 kB), iBookstore (in German), Apple, retrieved 1 April 2014
16. ^ "Bestseller-Platzierungen (Hardcover / Belletristik)", buchreport (in German), retrieved 24 August 2016
17. ^ "Bestseller-Platzierungen (Taschenbuch / Belletristik)", buchreport (in German), retrieved 24 August 2016
18. ^ Blackout – Morgen ist es zu spät (in German), Buchreport / Bestseller-Archiv, retrieved 28 January 2021
19. ^ Iken, Matthias (30 January 2013), "Wenn der Strom ausfällt", Hamburger Abendblatt (in German), pp. 6/7
20. ^ "Die "Wissensbücher des Jahres" 2012 stehen fest", BuchMarkt (in German), 21 November 2012, retrieved 1 April 2014
21. ^ "Sie haben die Wahl!", Bild der Wissenschaft (in German), retrieved 24 August 2016
22. ^ Jüngling, Thomas (11 March 2014), "Auch die Programmierer verlieren die Kontrolle", Die Welt (in German), retrieved 1 April 2014
23. ^ "Zero – Sie wissen, was du tust.", Buchreport / Bestseller-Archiv (in German), retrieved 28 January 2021
24. ^ "Das spannendste Wissensbuch 2014 ist "Zero" von Marc Elsberg", buchreport (in German), 24 November 2014, retrieved 24 August 2016
25. ^ Forshaw, Barry (6 July 2018), "The Best Recent Thrillers – Review Roundup", The Guardian, retrieved 15 February 2021
26. ^ Heine, Frank (9 November 2020), "WDR verfilmt Bestseller "Zero"", Blickpunkt Film (in German), retrieved 28 January 2021
27. ^ HELIX. Sie werden uns ersetzen (in German), 24 October 2016, retrieved 24 October 2016
28. ^ Irrgang, Christian (25 October 2016), Gruselige Zukunftsvisionen (in German), NDR, archived from the original on 10 November 2016, retrieved 28 January 2021
29. ^ "Helix – Sie werden uns ersetzen.", Buchreport / Bestseller-Archiv (in German), retrieved 28 January 2021
30. ^ Elsberg, Marc (2019), "Das Kooperationsplus. Ein Paradigmenwechsel" (PDF), Bonner Perspektiven. Ausgabe 01/2019 (in German), Bonner Akademie für Forschung und Lehre praktischer Politik (BAPP), retrieved 8 January 2020[permanent dead link]
31. ^ London Mathematical Laboratory – Economics (in German), retrieved 22 July 2019
32. ^ GIER. Wie weit würdest du gehen? (in German), 22 July 2019, retrieved 22 July 2019
33. ^ "Gier – Wie weit würdest du gehen?", Buchreport / Bestseller-Archiv (in German), retrieved 28 January 2021

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marc Elsberg.

* Marc Elsberg at IMDb
* Marc Elsberg official website

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