Tankred Dorst is a West German author who presents various aspects of postwar German society in his novels and in his plays, many of which have been shown on German television. He has also adapted works by Denis Diderot, Thomas Dekker, Ludwig Tieck, and Hans Fallada for the modern stage and has translated works by Molière and Sean O'Casey. Manfred Durzak considers him one of the "interessantesten und vielseitigsten Autoren der dt. Gegenwartslit., der die traditionelle Rolle des Dramatikers innovativ erweitert hat, vor allem durch die Einbeziehung des Films bzw. des Fernsehens" (most interesting and most versatile authors of contemporary German literature, one who has extended the traditional role of the dramatist in an innovative manner, above all by working with the medium of film as well as television).

Dorst was born on 19 December 1925 in Oberlind, Thuringia, to Max Dorst, an engineer, and Elisabeth Lettermann Dorst...