Britta Schmeis, born and raised near Düsseldorf in 1972, studied American studies and business administration in Hamburg. She then completed a traineeship at the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) as an editor. Since then she works as a freelance journalist and author with a focus on film, literature and society for NDR, Die Welt/Welt am Sonntag, Spiegel online and epd Film, among others. She was on the jury several times for the Preis der Deutschen Filmkritik und den Hamburger Kinopreisen. She loves European art house cinema and contemporary German novels, with excursions into American literature.