| Melanie Raabe | |
| Birth Date: | 1 August 1981 |
| Birth Place: | Jena, Bezirk Gera, East Germany |
| Occupation: | Writer |
| Language: | German |
| Alma Mater: | University of Bochum |
| Genre: | Crime thriller |
| Years Active: | 2011-present |
| Notable Works: | The Trap, The Stranger |
| Pseudonym: | Melanie Vega |
Melanie Raabe (born 1 August 1981 in Jena) is a German novelist and journalist.
Melanie Raabe was born in Jena, East Germany, and grew up in Wiehl. Her father was a visiting student from Benin.[1]
She studied media science and literature at the University of Bochum. She then began a career in journalism.[1]
In 2011, her short story The Tooth Fairy (dt. Die Zahnfee) won the top award of the German Short Crime Awards at the Tatort Eifel festival for crime literature. She self-published The Ugly Ones (dt. Die Hässlichen) as an e-book.[2]
Her novel The Trap (dt. Die Falle) was released at the Leipzig Book Fair in 2015.[1] The movie rights for The Trap were sold at the Berlinale to TriStar Pictures.[3] The book won the Stuttgart Crime Fiction Prize the following year.[4]
In 2016, her novel The Stranger (dt. Die Wahrheit) was published as an fiction book, radio play and audio book.[5]
In 2018, Raabe released her novel The Shadow (dt. Der Schatten).
In 2019, her novel The Forests (dt. Die Wälder) was published under btb Verlag. She was nominated for the Shortlist Leo-Perutz Awards in the category Best new publication (crime novel) for The Shadow (dt. Der Schatten), but lost against Alex Beer (Daniela Larcher).
| Year | Original Title | English translation | ISBN | Editor | Writer | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Die Zahnfee | "The Tooth Fairy" | — | — | Melanie Vega (Pseudonym) | [6] |
| 2014 | Die Hässlichen | "The Ugly Ones" | 978-3844-28019-7 | epubli GmbH | [7] | |
| 2015 | Die Falle | "The Trap" | 978-3442-75491-5 | btb Verlag | Melanie Raabe | [8] |
| 2016 | Die Wahrheit | "The Stranger" | 978-3442-71690-6 | [9] | ||
| 2018 | Der Schatten | "The Shadow" | 978-3442-71903-7 | [10] | ||
| 2019 | Die Wälder | "The Forests" | 978-3442-75753-4 | [11] |
| Year | Original Title | English translation | Writer | Editor | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Die Wahrheit | "The Stranger" | Melanie Raabe | Der Hörverlag | [12] |
| 2019 | Der Abgrund | "The Abysm" | [13] |
| Year | Original Title | English version | Writer | Speaker | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Die Falle | "The Trap" | Melanie Raabe | Devid Striesow, Birgit Minichmayr | [14] |
| 2016 | Die Wahrheit | "The Stranger" | Nina Kunzendorf, Andreas Pietschmann, Devid Striesow | [15] | |
| 2018 | Der Schatten | "The Shadow" | Katja Bürkle, Melanie Raabe | [16] | |
| 2019 | Die Wälder | "The Forests" | Melanie Raabe, Anna Schudt | [17] |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Tatort Eifel (German Short Crime Awards) | German Short Crime | Die Zahnfee | [18] | |
| 2015 | Kulturförderpreis des Oberbergischen Kreises | Fiction | Herself | Second place | [19] |
| 2016 | Stuttgart Crime Fiction Awards (Witwer-Debut crime price) | Best german-speaking debut crime novel | Die Falle | [20] | |
| 2019 | Shortlist Leo-Perutz-Awards | Best new publication (Genre crime novel) | Der Schatten | [21] |