Markus Zusak is an Australian bestselling author. He has written six novels, a trilogy formed by The Underdog (1999), Fighting Ruben Wolfe (2000) and When Dogs Cry (2001), followed by The Messenger (2002), the international bestseller The Book Thief (2006), and Bridge of Clay (2018).
Markus Zusak
Markus Zusak
The Book Thief
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Markus Zusak
On Writing The Book Thief
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Geoffrey Rush
Reads The Book Thief
Jesse Owens
Inspiration for Rudy
Drafts and Corrections
Writing The Book Thief
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Geoffrey Rush
Reads The Book Thief
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Markus Zusak
On Joy and Love Through Tragedy
Book Burning
Nazi Germany
Markus Zusak
From The Book Thief
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Markus Zusak
On the Research Process
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The Book Thief
Musical Adaptation
Online Exclusives
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Markus Zusak
On His Parents’ Influence
Featured book by Markus Zusak
The Book Thief
A novel described as ‘unsettling, life-affirming, triumphant and tragic’, The Book Thief is set in Nazi Germany and tells the story of nine-year-old Liesel and her love for books, books which she steals wherever she can find them. But when her family hides a Jew in their basement, things will never be the same again.
Read moreAuthor recommends
We Survived
By Eric Boehm
Recommended by: Markus Zusak
Publish Date: 2003
An extraordinary important historical document, We Survived details the lives of thousands of Germans during World War II. In fourteen autobiographical accounts, Eric Boehm tells stories of those who led illegal lives in an effort to resist Nazi terror and…
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
By Michael Chabon
Recommended by: Markus Zusak
Publish Date: 2000 Awards: 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
New York, 1939. Josef Kavalier has finally escaped from Prague to his cousin Sam Clay’s cramped bedroom. Together they embark on a journey, which starts with the comic strip ‘The Escapist’, in which a Nazi-busting superhero frees the oppressed around…
Slaughterhouse-Five
By Kurt Vonnegut
Recommended by: Markus Zusak
Publish Date: 1969
One of the greatest modern antiwar books, this novel is an American classic. Part autobiography, part science-fiction, Slaughterhouse-Five mixes Vonnegut’s own experience as a POW and the adventures of Billy Pilgrim, barber’s assistant, optometrist and alien abductee, who finds himself…