Wolf, Christa (1929- ), German novelist and essayist, known for her novels about Germany during World War II (1939-1945). Born Christa Ihlenfeld in Landsberg an der Warthe (now Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland), she studied at the Universities of Leipzig and Jena from 1949 to 1953. In 1951 she married writer Gerhard Wolf. After graduating she worked as a publisher's reader and an editor until 1962, when she became a full-time writer. Her first successful novel, Der geteilte Himmel (1963; translated as …showed first 75 words of 383 total…

…showed last 75 words of 383 total…involvement with the Stasi. Her other works include Unter den Linden: Drei unwahrscheinliche Geschichten (Under the Linden Trees: Three Improbable Stories, 1974) and Kein Ort Nirgends (1979; No Place on Earth, 1982). Wolf's works of nonfiction include Lesen und Schreiben (1972; The Reader and the Writer, 1977), a collection of essays on the form and function of prose. Wolf was awarded the highest literary honor of the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany, the George Büchner Prize, in 1980.