Michael Hofmann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the film director, see Michael Hofmann (director).
Michael Hofmann
Born 1957
Freiburg, West Germany
Occupation Poet, Translator
Genres Criticism, Poetry, Translation


Michael Hofmann (born 1957, Freiburg, West Germany) is a German-born poet who writes in English and an award-winning translator.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Michael Hofmann is the son of the German novelist Gert Hofmann. Hoffmann's family first moved to Bristol in 1961, and later to Edinburgh. He was educated at Winchester College and then studied English Literature and Classics at the University of Oxford. In 1979 he received a BA and in 1984 an MA from the University of Cambridge. In 1983 he started working as a freelance writer, translator, and literary critic. Hofmann has held a visiting professorship at the University of Michigan and currently teaches poetry workshops at the University of Florida.[1] He splits his time between London and Gainesville.

[edit] Honors

Hofmann received the Cholmondeley Award in 1984 for Nights in the Iron Hotel[2] and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1988 for Acrimony.[3] The same year, he also received the Schlegel-Tieck Prize for his translation of Patrick Süskind's The Double-Bass.[4] In 1993 he received the Schlegel-Tieck Prize again for his translation of Wolfgang Koeppen's Death in Rome.[4]

Hofmann was awarded the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 1995 for the translation of his father's novel The Film Explainer,[5] and Michael was nominated again in 2003 for his translation of Peter Stephan Jungk's The Snowflake Constant.[6] In 1997 he received the Arts Council Writer's Award for his novel Approximately Nowhere,[5] and the following year he received the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his translation of Herta Müller's novel Land of Green Plums.[5]

In 1999 Hofmann was awarded the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize for his translation of Joseph Roth's The String of Pearls.[7] In 2000 Hofmann was selected as the recipient of the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize for his translation of Joseph Roth's novel Rebellion.[8] In 2003 he received another Schlegel-Tieck Prize for his translation of his father's Luck,[4] and in 2004 he was awarded the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize for his translation of Ernst Jünger's Storm of Steel.[9] In 2005 Hofmann received his fourth Schlegel-Tieck Prize for his translation of Gerd Ledig's The Stalin Organ.[4] Hofmann served as a judge for the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2002, and in 2006 Hofmann made the Griffin's international shortlist for his translation of Durs Grünbein's Ashes for Breakfast.[10]

[edit] Selected bibliography

[edit] Author

Cover of Approximately Nowhere
Cover of
Approximately Nowhere
Cover of 20th Century German Poetry
Cover of
20th Century German Poetry

[edit] Translator

[edit] Editor

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Brearton, Fran (1999). "An interview with Michael Hofmann: Where is our home key anyway?". Thumbscrew (3): 30–46. ISSN 1369-5371. 
  2. ^ Cholmondely Award for Poets (past winners). The Society of Authors (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  3. ^ Merrit, Moseley (2007). The Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  4. ^ a b c d Schlegel-Tieck Prize (past winners). The Society of Authors (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  5. ^ a b c Literary awards: Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. British Council (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  6. ^ Swedish author wins Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2003. Arts Council England (2003-04-07). Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
  7. ^ Book-of-the-Month-Club Translation Prize winners. PEN American Center (2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
  8. ^ Michael Hofmann recipient of the 2000 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize. Goethe Institute (2000). Retrieved on 2007-06-28.
  9. ^ The Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize (previous winners). St. Anne's College (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  10. ^ The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry: Shortlist 2006 - Michael Hofmann. The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry (2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-25.

[edit] External links