Born on February 24, 1926 in Mittweida
 | |
|
| 1944 - 1945 | Military service | |
| 1947 - 1950 | Cub reporter and editor of the Leipziger Volkszeitung | |
| 1950 | Career start as a free-lance writer | |
| 1955 - 1956 | Studies at the Johannes R. Becher Institute for Literature, Leipzig | |
| 1957 | Sentenced to seven years in prison for „organising counter-revolutionary groups;“ two-year sentence reduction | |
| 1979 | Resignation from GDR Writers’ Union | |
| 1981 | Leaves the GDR with a visa and goes to Osnabrück, Federal Republic of Germany | |
| 1981 | Hans Fallada Prize of the City of Neumünster | |
| 1984 | Marburg Literature Award; Jakob Kaiser Award | |
| 1986 | Bursary Prize of Lower Saxony | |
| 1984 - 1986 | Vice-Chairman of the Union of German Writers | |
| 1989 | Town Chronicler of Deidesheim | |
| 1989 | Founds the Lindenverlag in Leipzig | |
| 1991 | Freedom Prize of the Federal Union of Free Trades and Professions | |
| 1992 | Karl-Hermann Flach Award | |
| 1992 | Honorary citizenship granted by the City of Mittweida | |
| 1996 | Honorary citizenship granted by the City of Leipzig | |
| 1997 | Honorary doctorate granted by Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia | |
| 1999 | Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany | |
| 2001 | Honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Chemnitz | |
| 2009 | German National Prize for Art and Science | |
| Erich Loest lives in Leipzig |
