Strunk was born in
Bevensen and grew up in
Hamburg. Performing in the pop duo Dis Noir under his real name Mathias Halfpape, he released the album
Paradise is Far Away in 1989, produced by
Dirk Steffens. He has released three audio albums with Studio Braun containing prank phone calls. An example of such calls include Strunk calling a
coal merchant to order coke, where he means cocaine but the coal merchant understands
coke fuel. In another call, Strunk phones a resident of rural Saxony, an area known for a strong regional accent, to offer him free elocution lessons to “correct” his
Saxon accent. Strunk claims to represent a fictional charity for Hamburg residents to “help” Saxony. In 2003 Studio Braun released the song
Komputerfreak, which takes a serious look at the washed-up lives and addictive/compulsive personalities of those who spend large amounts of time using computers. In 2004 Strunk’s comic novel
Fleisch ist mein Gemüse (
Meat is my vegetable) was published, based on his own youth as a musician in various small-time bands in the 1980s. A movie based on the book was released in 2008, directed by Christian Görlitz and filmed in and around Hamburg. In 2010 the novel was adapted into a stage play. The writer and actor has an
alter ego called Jürgen Dose. His works often deal with social outcasts and the bleakness of everyday life. Strunk is a member of the German satirical political party
Die PARTEI (“The PARTY”). In 2016 Strunk’s highly praised novel
Der goldene Handschuh (
The Golden Glove) was published. The bestseller tells the story of the German serial killer
Fritz Honka. Strunk won the
Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize and was nominated for the
Leipzig Book Fair Prize. German director
Fatih Akin acquired the film rights to make a movie based on
Der goldene Handschuh. The
eponymous film was released in 2019 and received mixed critical reviews. In 2024 Strunk published
Zauberberg 2 (“Magic Mountain 2”) to mark the 100th anniversary of
Thomas Mann’s
The Magic Mountain. The novel is a free adaptation of the original and set in the present day. == Works ==