Received many important awards such as the Heinrich Mann Prize (1963),
the Georg Büchner Prize (1980) and the Schiller Memorial Prize
(1983).
Has two daughters, Annette (born in 1952) and Katrin (born in
1956).
Her parents had owned a grocery in Landsberg an der Warthe, until the
family fled to Mecklenburg at the end of World War II.
Records of the former East German secret service "Stasi" found in 1993
proved that she had worked as "IM" (informant) between 1959 and 1961,
but the officers lost interest in her cooperation and surveyed her for
the next 30 years.