Wolfgang Hädecke (1929-2022), born in Weissenfels/Saale, studied English and German studies in Halle and subsequently worked as a teacher. In 1958, he moved to the Federal Republic of Germany and taught at a high school in Bielefeld until 1991. Since 1994, he lived in his chosen home of Dresden. He was a member of PEN and the Association of German Writers. His works published by Hanser include biographies of Heinrich Heine (1985), Theodor Fontane (1998), and Novalis (2011), as well as the study "Poets and Machines" (1993) and "Dresden: A History of Splendor, Catastrophe, and Renewal" (2006).