Tilo Eckardt is a German-Swiss editor, publisher, author, and literary agent. Until 2021, he was the publishing managing director of Heyne Verlage. For the research for "Gefährliche Betrachtungen," Tilo Eckardt was invited by the Nordic Culture Foundation and the Klaipeda County Ieva Simonaityte Public Library to Nida in Lithuania. He lived and wrote in the local author residency for two months, which is located just a few meters from Thomas Mann's summer house.