Häuflein Elend are Ann Esswein and Sebastian van Vugt.
Ann Esswein is a freelance reporter and author. She writes short stories, articles, radio features, plays and novels. Her debut novel, Mimikry, was published in 2024, followed by her second novel, Jahre ohne Sprache (Ecco), in November 2025.
Sebastian van Vugt is a freelance writer working with both text and music. He publishes cultural studies essays and prose with, among others, Kopf und Kragen Literaturverlag, the anthology U0 Untergrundminiaturen and various literary magazines. He is also active as a musician with Baldabiou, The ExEx and Sonic Glint.
As part of a collaborative writing project, Ann Esswein and Sebastian van Vugt created a radio essay for Deutschlandfunk in which they ask: What if shame did not exist – would paradise be waiting behind it?