Heike Patzschke took the interpreting and translating course at Humboldt University in Berlin and studied Japanese literature to receive a PhD in 1987. In 1994 she began translating and interpreting on a freelance basis. Since 1998 she has also taught Japanese literature and Japanese-German translation at the University of Cologne. She is the translator of Ogai Mori's Diary in Germany, of Ryotaro Shiba's The Last Shogun, and of countless short stories by such authors as Keizo Hino, Amy Yamada, and Takeshi Kaiko.