Helge Malchow

Helge Malchow was born in 1950 in Bad Freienwalde an der Oder and grew up in Düsseldorf and Neuss after his family fled to West Germany. He studied German literature, social sciences and philosophy in Cologne, completing his state examination in 1975. After training as a secondary-school teacher and several years in education, he joined Kiepenheuer & Witsch in 1983. He first worked as an editor, became chief editor in 1993 and publisher in 2002. From 2002 to 2018, he was part of the publishing house’s management as its publishing managing director. He was named Publisher of the Year in 2005 and received the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2010. Earlier, he had worked on a doctorate in Italy and spent an extended period in New York for the publisher.