Radek Knapp was born in 1964 in Warsaw and has lived in Vienna since 1976. He graduated from a trade college, studied philosophy at the university, worked part-time as a bathhouse attendant, selling sausages at a kiosk, and as a tennis coach. Professional writer since 1994. Author of the collection of short stories "Franek" (1994; Russian translation, 1999), the novels "Duck with Oranges" (1996), "Paper Tiger" (2003) and the book "Poland: instructions for use" (2005). The novel "Pan's Advice" Cookie" (1999) is a bright and ironic story about a young man who came from Poland to the "golden West." Bizarrely mixing the traditions of the picaresque novel and the novel of education, Knapp takes his hero through the streets and back streets of Vienna, where he finds himself in funny, absurd and sad-romantic situations.