Siddhartha About the Author Nobel Prize-winner Hermann Hesse was born in Calw in the Black Forest, Germany in 1877. His parents were both missionaries. His first novel Peter Camenzind (1904) was a success, but World War I brought him into conflict with rampant German nationalism. In 1923, he traded in his German citizenship for a Swiss passport. His most famous books include Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, Narziss und Goldmund, and The Glass Bead Game.