Torsten Kathke's first short story was published in 1989. He was nine years old then, and is now embarrassed enough about it not to put it up here.

He continued to write things in many shapes and forms, including short stories, poems, and screenplays. The first time one of his screenplays was rejected by Hollywood, he knew he had to keep on writing.

Thus, another script landed him representation, an internship, and later a job at FreeX in Munich, where he spent time during 1999, 2000, and 2001.

In summer 2001 his desire to do something different led him to a small town in rural Brandenburg, where he assisted in the production of a real movie for all of three days, when a case of what appeared to be food poisoning cut that gig severely short.

Subsequently, he began studying American Cultural and Literary History, as well as Drama, at Ludwig-Maxmilians-University in Munich in the fall of 2001. He completed his M.A. there in the summer of 2006, and decided to stick around for a Ph.D. in American History.