Alem Grabovac was born in 1974 in Würzburg. His mother is Croatian, his father Bosnian. He studied sociology, political science and psychology in Munich, London and Berlin where he lives with his family today. As a freelance author, he writes for Die Zeit, Die Welt and the taz, among others. His highly acclaimed debut novel Das achte Kind was published by hanserblau in 2021.