Walter Kempowski (1929-2007) was one of postwar Germany's most acclaimed and popular writers. His novels include All for Nothing and Marrow and Bone (both published by NYRB Classics). In the 1980s he began work on an immense project, Echo Soundings, which gathered firsthand accounts, diaries, letters, and memoirs of World War II. It is considered a modern classic.

Michael Lipkin is a translator and scholar of German literature with a focus on realism. His writing has appeared in The New Left Review, The Times Literary Supplement, The Nation, and The Paris Review, among others. He is currently a visiting professor of German Studies at Hamilton College.