Kathrin Hartmann was born in Ulm in 1972 and studied art history, philosophy and Scandinavian in Frankfurt am Main. During her studies she worked as a freelance writer for the Frankfurter Rundschau, Taz, and Titanic. Following an internship at the Frankfurter Rundschau she there became an editor for news and politics. From 2006 to 2009 she worked as an editor at Neon, the youth magazine edition of Stern. Kathrin Hartmann lives in Munich and is a freelance writer for Nido, Neon, Frankfurter Rundschau and GQ, among others. She is also on the board of the Professional Association for Freelance Journalists as a free writer. In her new book Wir müssen leider draußen bleiben. Die neue Armut in der Konsumgesellschaft, Hartmann writes about citizens who are excluded from the country's wealth and about the downward spiral of low-wage jobs, temporary jobs and the decline of the welfare state.