New Books in German invited Professor Karen Leeder to give readers an introductory overview to contemporary poetry in German.
At the foot of this article you will find links to the poets, publishers, festivals, and prizes mentioned.
The annual meeting of JUNIVERS sponsored by TOLEDO at the Literarisches Colloquium on the Wannsee just outside Berlin offers translators the opportunity to come together and hear from prominent and emerging German poets and those associated with the poetry business. It is normally timed in June to coincide with the Berlin Poetry Festival, now housed in the new cultural quarter of Silent Green, though last year when I attended, it became JULIVERS on account of a different kind of pilgrimage – the football. Part shopwindow, part workshop, it combines theory and practice and brings translators and people from across the industry to discuss and work together for a glorious week.
Last summer in Berlin saw translators from nine different languages gather to meet established writers making their way into new languages, debut poets, editors and academics bringing out new anthologies, and poets and translators discussing their collaborations. For us, this included readings with Sirka Elspaß, Ozan Keskinkilic, a bilingual performance with Anja Utler and her Swedish translator Linda Östergaard and a glorious angel-themed reading by new-comers Lara Rüter, Georg Leß and Alexander Kappe. There were discussions with Volker Braun and his Chinese translator Wang Yanhui; and with Uljana Wolf und Sool Park on joint Korean translation; plus an introduction to recent anthologies, texts from the archive and eco-poetries. These sessions were supplemented by round the clock access to the dizzying programme of the Berlin Poetry Festival – an international feast.
The annual highlight at JUNIVERS is undoubtedly the chance to pour over a selection of texts by the guest poet, quiz them, and try one’s hand at translation over several days. In 2024 this was Kerstin Preiwuβ who was generous and patient and brought an astonishing concentration to our work. We all came home with suitcases full of books and catalogues, notebooks full of drafts and ideas and even got to perform together at the poetry festival and have since published together. JUNIVERS is a brilliant opportunity for everyone interested in German poetry and a chance to make connections across the world. It is also a showcase for the new developments on the German poetry scene with the express hope of finding access to other languages.
UNIVERS is a brilliant opportunity for everyone interested in German poetry and a chance to make connections across the world. It is also a showcase for the new developments on the German poetry scene with the express hope of finding access to other languages.
Karen Leeder
English is, of course, a sought-after destination, and while poetry is traditionally less popular than prose narratives for English-language publishers, several publishers have been making an impact over the last couple of years (including Arc, Carcanet, Pushkin, Shearsman, and Kolkata-based Seagull Books) and a couple (And Other Stories, Burning Eye Books and Fitzcarraldo) have even embraced new poetry lists. This last week saw the launch of an exciting new poetry translation prize sponsored by Fitzcarraldo, New Directions and Giramondo.
Alongside the seemingly constant interest in classic German poets, from Hölderlin to Trakl or Celan there are new accents: Andrew Shanks this year won the 2024 Schlegel-Tieck Prize for his translation of Nelly Sachs’s Revelation Freshly Erupting: Collected Poetry with Carcanet; Timothy Adès brought out Richarda Huch’s Autumn Fire with Salzburg Poetry’s new pamphlet series. The double anniversary of Rainer Maria Rilke’s birth and death in 2025-2026 has already seen numerous publications, including Martyn Crucefix’s much praised Change your Life with Pushkin, doubtless with more to come. It is pleasing to see several older writers being re-discovered in English. Having brought out a prize-winning edition of Peter Huchel in 2019 Martyn Crucefix will present a selection of Jürgen Becker (1932-2024) with Shearsman. This elusive poet with his quiet surrealism is a tone quite new to English. Others still have to find their way into English like Ludwig Fels (1946-2021) the worker poet of the 1970s and 80s best known for prose and film writing, though his new collected poems Mir mir hast du keine Chance with Jung und Jung (2023) give a new perspective.
The wonderful grande-dame of Austrian literature Friederike Mayröcker (1924-2021) also died in 2021. Multiple collections of her ‘raving language’ have been published by Seagull, in Donna Stonecipher’s translation, to mark the centenary of her birth. Berlin-based experimental writer and Büchner-Prize winner Elke Erb (1938-2024) is, like Mayröcker, both whimsical and uncompromising, also an important influence and mentor for younger poets, but is still almost unknown in English. That goes too for Barbara Köhler (1959-2021) who uses language as a way of unpicking power relations but in a mode also sensual and profoundly musical. Her Niemands Frau (2007), a re-writing of the Odyssey from the point of view of the excluded, is surely one of the great works of German poetry of the twentieth century. The new volume Schriftstellen (a compelling selection of essays and poems and other materials from the archive) was introduced in the LCB by Marie Luise Knott and gives translators fresh access to this extraordinary poet.
As yet, there are many key voices of established but younger writers who have not yet been picked up…
Karen Leeder
As yet, there are many key voices of established but younger writers who have not yet been picked up: it is astonishing to think that only one volume of poetry by Ulrike Draesner (b. 1962) has found its way into English with Shearsman in an immaculate translation by Iain Galbraith. And while Ulrike Almut Sandig (b. 1977) has been championed by Seagull, some writers are still waiting to be discovered: like Kerstin Preiwuβ (b.1980) whose volumes explore gender and the landscape, or Sirke Elspaβ (b. 1995) whose debut collection ich föhne mir meine wimpern (2022) marries pop sensibility and existential awareness and was shortlisted for the debut Austrian Book prize; or Rike Scheffler (b. 1985) whose 2016 volume der rest ist resonanz, with the dynamic Berlin Kookbooks Verlag, brings together vulnerability and pinpoint observation and was awarded the Orphil prize for a poetry debut.
Ecological poetry is a key concern in Germany; but though the subject may be bleak this does not mean the poetry is humourless or dull.
Karen Leeder
Ecological poetry is a key concern in Germany; but though the subject may be bleak this does not mean the poetry is humourless or dull. The opposite in fact. Lutz Seiler’s (b. 1963) pitch & glint (2023) explores the haunted landscape of the GDR in reaching lines and was a 2023 PBS choice in translation by Stefan Tobler for his And Other Stories. But novelist Esther Kinsky’s (b. 1956) knotty meditative landscape poetry has not yet found its way into English – although her 2018 novel, Hain / Grove, was featured by NBG and translated by Caroline Schmidt for Fitzcarraldo Editions. The humorous work of Mara-Daria Cojocaru (b. 1980), poet-philosopher and winner of the German Prize for ‘Nature Writing’ has only been sampled. Amongst the younger writers Tim Holland (b. 1987), the poet, activist and performer Samuel Kramer (b. 1996) and Carla Cerda biologist, poet and translator, all match their acute eco-awareness with an experiential engagement with form.
Alongside the online portal Lyrikline and the invaluable Modern Poetry in Translation (whose German special, Slap-Bang! appeared in 2021), the annual Jahrbuch der Lyrik with Schöffling and Co. (along with the new Austrian equivalent with Melos) is a good way of getting a snapshot of the state of play and registering new names. Interestingly several prizewinning novelists like Dinçer Güçyeter (b. 1979), who won the 2023 Leipzig Book Fair Prize for his debut novel, or writer and performance artist Marina Hefter (b. 1965) who won the German Book Prize in 2024, are also making a name for themselves as poets. This year also sees a welcome anthology, The Opposite of Seduction, edited by Alexander Kappe, Nicola Thomas and Jana Maria Weiβ for Shearsman which offers an overview of recent developments from philosophical reflection to experiment and performance and introduces brand new names onto the radar.
Learn more
NBG’s interview with Professor Karen Leeder about her award-winning translations of the poets Durs Grünbein and Evelyn Schlag and the delicate art of translating poetry
NBG’s interview with Dinçer Güçyeter, winner of the 2023 Leipzig Book Fair Prize
Poets mentioned in the article
Publishers of translated poetry
Poetry Festivals or Meetings
“Haus für Poesie in Berlin stands for unique, often multilingual poetic event formats. We regard poetry as an independent art form that goes beyond the traditional literary event. Due to its openness and its permeability to other art forms, poetry is not limited to readings, but opens up many exciting possibilities for creatively engaging with spaces and artistic practices.”
“The EPF returns for it’s 8th year, with eleven events celebrating collaboration, literary liveness and cross-linguistic inventiveness. A continuation of one of the grandest celebrations of European poetry ever to take place in Britain, over 150 poets, many visiting from across Europe, will present new works at a series of ‘Camarade’ events.”
Prizes
The Poetry in Translation Prize
Professor Karen Leeder began her academic journey began with research on the underground poetry, art, and music scene in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. She has published widely and secured major research grants. As a prize-winning translator, Leeder has translated major German-language poets, including Durs Grünbein, Evelyn Schlag, and Ulrike Almut Sandig. Her work has earned her prestigious awards including the Griffin Poetry Prize (2025), English PEN and PEN/Heim awards, and the Schlegel-Tieck Prize.
All three JUNIVERS photographs are © Thomas Bohm
Karen Leeder photograph © André Wirsig, Kulturstiftung des Freistaats Sachsen
Aimee Chor writes: This new anthology is the first major collection of recent German poetry in English translation since Michael Hofmann’s Twentieth Century German Poetry (2005) and Rosmarie Waldrop’s Dichten No. 10 (2008). Offering an excellent overview of German-language poetry from the first two decades of the 21st century, it stands out for its thematic organization. The selection highlights the remarkable formal and thematic diversity of contemporary German verse. The anthology focuses on representing the major voices of the early 21st century, showcasing poets such as Nadja Küchenmeister, Kerstin Preiwuß, and Caroline Callies, as well as those whose translated works have recently garnered acclaim—Ulrike Almut Sandig, Uljana Wolf, and Monika Rinck. Importantly, it features poets from immigrant backgrounds, including Dinçer Güçyeter, Yevgeniy Breyger, and Alexandru Bulucz, reflecting a vital and growing presence in German literature. One can hope that future anthologies will spotlight even newer voices on the German literary scene.
