Wladimir Kaminer

Wladimir Kaminer (Владимир Викторович Каминер; born 19 July 1967) is a Russian-born German short story writer, columnist and disc jockey of Jewish origin, the son of Viktor and Shanna Kaminer.

Kaminer was born in Moscow, and after initially training as an audio engineer for theatre and radio, then studied dramaturgy at the Moscow Institute of Theatre. Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Kaminer emigrated to Marzahn, Berlin, in 1990.

From the late 1990s onward Kaminer became a prime mover in Berlin's art and literature scenes, based at the reopened Kaffee Burger club. He holds regular readings at the cafe, and also contributes regularly to various German literary organs. Kaminer also hosts a weekly radio show, called Wladimir's World, on Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg's (formerly Sender Freies Berlin) RADIOmultikulti, a station aimed at immigrants in Germany. Kaminer also regularly DJs at his "Russendiskos", during which he exclusively plays music by Russian bands. These discos originally began at the Kaffee Burger, but now also occasionally tour Germany.

Though Russian is his first language, Kaminer's entire literary output is in German, and sometimes concerns the language contact situation of Russian immigrants to Germany.

In 2006 he announced his intention to run for Mayor of Berlin in 2011. The final chapter of his 2007 book Ich bin kein Berliner was subtitled "My first speech as mayoral candidate" (Meine erste Rede als Bürgermeisterkandidat).