Family, Memory, and Fiction: Nelio Biedermann on Writing Lazar

Born in 2003, Nelio Biedermann grew up near on Lake Zurich. His grandparents fled to Switzerland in the 1950s. Biedermann, whose paternal family is descended from Hungarian nobility, studied German and Film Studies at the University of Zurich.

Biedermann’s novel Lazar, originally published in German, sold more than 200,000 copies in the first four months and spent 29 weeks on the German bestseller list. Published by Maclehos Press, an imprint of Quercus Publishing and Hachette India, Lazar is now scheduled to be translated into more than 30 languages.