Photo: PEN American Center / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Kerr is, to me, a model of how to make literary fiction and genre fiction shake hands. His Bernie Gunther novels, set in and around Nazi-era Berlin, pull off something difficult: they entertain like hardboiled thrillers while taking history's darkest corners seriously. The Birmingham-educated mind behind them clearly did the research, yet never let it smother the storytelling. I admire that he refused to stay in one lane, dabbling in science fiction, children's books and screenwriting too. The Berlin Noir trilogy holds up beautifully, and losing him in 2018 felt like losing a writer still very much at the height of his powers.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Philip Kerr
- Name (Japanese)
- フィリップ・カー
- Reading
- ふぃりっぷ・かー
- Born
- February 22, 1956 – March 23, 2018
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Monkey
- Origin
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Occupation
- writer / poet lawyer / science fiction writer / children's writer / screenwriter
2. Background
- University
- University of Birmingham
Awards & achievements
- 1994 Prix Mystère de la Critique
- 2010 Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel
- 2014 Palle Rosenkrantz Prize
- 2009 RBA International Prize for Crime Writing
- 2009 CWA Historical Dagger
- 2009 Prix du Polar Européen
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Berlin Noir trilogy | — | |
| Notable work | The One From the Other | — | |
| Notable work | A Quiet Flame | — |
6. Links
- Official sitehttp://www.philipkerr.org
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AA%E3%83%83%E3%83%97%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC
Frequently asked questions
When was Philip Kerr born?
February 22, 1956 – March 23, 2018.
Where is Philip Kerr from?
Philip Kerr is from Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
What does Philip Kerr do?
Philip Kerr works as writer, poet lawyer, science fiction writer, children's writer, screenwriter.
What is Philip Kerr known for?
Notable works include Berlin Noir trilogy, The One From the Other, A Quiet Flame.
Writer — see all → · More people from United Kingdom →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.