Ayad Akhtar, born in 1970, grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as the son of Pakistani immigrants. He is the most widely read contemporary US-American playwright. His debut Ostracized won numerous important national and international prizes, including the Pulitzer Theatre Prize and the Nestroy Theatre Prize. His plays are performed on all major German-speaking stages. Homeland Elegies is his second novel after Himmelssucher (2012)