[1] Considered one of the most important German poets living today,[2] he is the author of numerous books of poetry, prose, and essays, and gained national attention for his debut novel Kruso.

"[3] During the DDR years Seiler's home town of Gera grew rapidly to service the uranium mines at Ronneburg and in his early poetry the symbolism of radioactivity was significant.

[8] The island of Hiddensee was a popular East German resort and was close enough to the Danish coast to attract those who wanted to escape across the Baltic Sea to the West.

Residents and seasonal workers were closely watched by the local Stasi and by the NVA border guards who were on the lookout for people who might attempt to escape to Denmark.

[citation needed] In Kruso, Edgar flees a personal tragedy, leaving his studies at the university of Halle to work on Hiddensee for the summer as a dishwasher at the Zum Klausner restaurant.

Kruso makes it his mission to teach the 'shipwrecked' people who flee to the island how to find an inner freedom which will enable them to return to their difficult lives on the mainland.

In September 2015, Kruso was adapted for the German stage by Dagmar Borrmann and performed at the Magdeburg Theatre under the direction of Cornelia Crombholz .