Manfred Böckl

Manfred Böckl (born 2 September 1948) is a German writer who specialises in historical fiction. Since the 1980s, he has written novels that often revolve around Bavaria, crime, abuse of power and historical renegades and seers. He had a local breakthrough in 1991 with a novel about the Bavarian prophet Mühlhiasl. A recurring subject in Böckl's works is Celtic culture and he practices Celtic neopaganism.

Early life and education
Manfred Böckl was born in Landau an der Isar in Bavaria on 2 September 1948. He had a Catholic father and an Evangelical mother. He studied German studies, geography, jurisprudence, history, philosophy, literature, psychology and theology at the University of Regensburg without finishing a degree. From 1973 to 1976 he worked as an editor at the Passauer Neue Presse and after that as a freelance writer.

Literary career
Böckl debuted as a writer in 1966 when he had a novella published. From 1980 to 1984, he published a series of young adult novels, Geheimbund Blaue Rose (lit. 'Blue Rose Secret Society'), written together with Helmut Watzke under the pseudonym Jean de Laforet. Since 1984 he has written a large number of historical novels, often set in Bavaria and revolving around crimes and abuse of power. He describes his approach to the genre as trying to intervene socially with lessons from history.

Die Hexe soll brennen (1989, lit. 'The Witch Shall Burn'), set in the Regensburg and Straubing area, is about witch-hunts, a theme that also appears in novels about Agnes Bernauer (1993) and the witch trial of Fuersteneck (1997). Several of Böckl's stories are about historical renegades in conflict with authorities, including novels about Michael Heigl (1990), Georg Jennerwein (1993), Mathias Kneißl (1998) and Alois Irlmaier (1999). A recurring subject is Bavarian prophets, including Mühlhiasl, who is the central character in the 1991 novel ''Mühlhiasl. Der Seher vom Rabenstein'' (lit. 'The Seer from Rabenstein') which became a literary breakthrough for Böckl in Bavaria; as of 2021, it had been published in 10 German editions. It was followed by several novels and non-fiction books about clairvoyants and seers. The history of Bavarian glassworks form part of the novels ''Sumava. Ein Epos aus dem Böhmerwald (1992, lit. 'An Epic from the Bohemian Forest') and Der Glasteufel'' (2002, lit. 'The Glass Devil'). In ''Bischofsmord und Hexenjagd. Die spektakulärsten Kriminalfälle aus dem historischen Bayern'' (2015, lit. 'Episcopal Murder and Witch Hunting. The Most Spectacular Criminal Cases from the Historical Bavaria'), Böckl combines his interest in Bavaria and historical crimes and explores the conspiracy theory that Ludwig II of Bavaria was murdered.

Another recurring subject is the Celts and their culture, including Myrddin Wyllt, Boudica, the triple goddess and the druids. Böckl practices Celtic neopaganism in a form he describes as a "spiritual return to Celtic paganism". He explores contemporary religious life and issues of tolerance and fundamentalism in his 2011 book Die kleinen Religionen Europas (lit. 'The Small Religions of Europe').

As of 2016, Böckl's books had sold around one million copies in total. He has had books translated into Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Estonian, Czech, Bulgarian and Dutch. In 2018, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, he published his autobiography Oft war es wie im Roman (lit. 'Often It Was like in a Novel'). In 2019 he publicly denounced Germany's immigration policies under Angela Merkel's government.

Selected publications
Novels

Non-fiction