Martin Grzimek (b. 1950) is a German author best known for his work Die Beschattung, translated as Shadowlife by Breon Mitchell. Grzimek has won multiple literary prizes, including the Hermann-Hesse-Literaturpreis, the Rauris Literature Prize, and the Friedrich-Gerstäcker-Preis. Other works written by Grzimek include Stillstand Des Herzens (1982), Das Austernfest (2005), and Mostar – Skizzen und Splitter (1995), among other works.

Breon Mitchell, 1942- , is an Indiana University professor of Germanic Studies, a translator of German to English, and a Samuel Beckett bibliographer. He began his professional career with a Ph.D. from Oxford University in Comparative Literature, and joined the Indiana University faculty in 1968, in both the Germanic Studies and Comparative Literature departments. Breon Mitchell was among the founding members of the Friends of the Lilly and would go on to become the director some years later, between 2001 and 2012. Mitchell is known for his numerous contributions to academia in Germanic studies as well as to Indiana University, including becoming the charter member and president of the American Literary Translators Association and co-founder of the Wells Scholars Program.