Ruth-Maria Thomas, born in 1993 and raised in Cottbus, worked as a social worker in youth services. She studied at the German Institute for Literature in Leipzig. Her debut novel, *Die schönste Version* (2024), was nominated for the German Book Prize, the aspekte Literature Prize, the Buddenbrookhaus Prize, and the German Business Prize, and won the Ulla Hahn Prize. In 2025, the rbb podcast *Der Bruch – Frauen zwischen Ost und jetzt* (The Rupture – Women Between East and Now), which Thomas hosted, was released. *Die zweitet größte Liebe* (The Second Greatest Love) is her second novel.
Ruth-Maria Thomas
