| Michael Hofmann | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1957 Freiburg, West Germany |
| Occupation | Poet, Translator |
| Genres | Criticism, Poetry, Translation |
| Debut works | Nights in the Iron Hotel Castle Gripsholm Arcimony, The Double Bass |
Michael Hofmann (born 1957, Freiburg, West Germany) is a German-born poet who writes in English and an award-winning translator.
Contents |
Biography
Michael Hofmann is the son of the German novelist Gert Hofmann. Hoffmann's family first moved to Bristol in 1961, and Michael later attended schools in Edinburgh and Winchester. He studied English Literature and Classics at the University of Oxford and in 1979 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.
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]
Selected bibliography
Author
Approximately Nowhere
20th Century German Poetry
- Hofmann, Michael (1984), Nights in the iron hotel, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0571131167
- Hofmann, Michael (1986), Acrimony, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0571145287
- Hofmann, Michael (1993), Corona, Corona, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0571170524
- Hofmann, Michael (1999), Approximately nowhere: poems, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0571195244
- Hofmann, Michael (2002), Behind the lines: pieces on writing and pictures, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0571195237
Translator
- Tucholsky, Kurt & Hofmann, Michael (1985), Castle Gripsholm: a summer story, London: Chatto and Windus, ISBN 978-0701129934
- Wenders, Wim & Hofmann, Michael (1989), Emotion pictures: reflections on the cinema, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0571152728
- Wenders, Wim & Hofmann, Michael (1992), The logic of images: essays and conversations, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0571165179
- Koeppen, Wolfgang & Hofmann, Michael (1992), Death in Rome, London: Granta, ISBN 978-1862075894
- Roth, Joseph & Hofmann, Michael (1995), The string of pearls, London: Granta, ISBN 978-1862070875
- Hofmann, Gert & Hofmann, Michael (1995), The film explainer, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, ISBN 978-0810112933
- Süskind, Patrick & Hofmann, Michael (1997), The double-bass, London: Bloomsbury, ISBN 978-0701129934
- Müller, Herta & Hofmann, Michael (1998), Land of green plums, London: Granta, ISBN 978-1862072602
- Roth, Joseph & Hofmann, Michael (1999), Rebellion, London: Picador, ISBN 978-0312263836
- Jungk, Peter Stephan & Hofmann, Michael (2002), The snowflake constant, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0571201822
- Roth, Joseph & Hofmann, Michael (2003), Radetzky march, London: Granta, ISBN 978-1862076051
- Jungk, Peter Stephan & Hofmann, Michael (2004), The perfect American, New York: Handsel Books, ISBN 978-1590511152
- Jünger, Ernst & Hofmann, Michael (2004), Storm of steel, London: Penguin Classics, ISBN 978-0142437902
- Kafka, Franz & Hofmann, Michael (2004), Amerika: the man who dissapeard, New York: New Directions Publishers, ISBN 978-0811215138
- Hofmann, Gert & Hofmann, Michael (2004), Lichtenberg and the little flower girl, New York: New Directions Publishers, ISBN 978-0811215688
- Ledig, Gert & Hofmann, Michael (2004), The stalin organ, London: Granta, ISBN 978-1862076525
- Grünbein, Durs & Hofmann, Michael (2006), Ashes for breakfast: selected poems, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN 978-0374530136
- Bernhard, Thomas & Hofmann, Michael (2006), Frost, New York: Knopf, 978-1400040667
- Kafka, Franz & Hofmann, Michael (2006), The Zürau aphorisms, New York: Schocken, ISBN 978-0805212075
Editor
- Hofmann, Michael, ed. (1994), After Ovid: new metamorphoses, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN 978-0374524784
- Hofmann, Michael, ed. (2001), Robert Lowell, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0571230402
- Hofmann, Michael, ed. (2005), The Faber book of 20th century German poems, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0571197033
- Hofmann, Michael, ed. (2006), Twentieth-century German poetry: an anthology, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN 978-0374105358
Notes
- ^ Brearton, Fran (1999). "An interview with Michael Hofmann: Where is our home key anyway?". Thumbscrew (3): 30-46. ISSN 1369-5371. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
- ^ Cholmondely Award for Poets (past winners). The Society of Authors (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
- ^ Merrit, Moseley (2007). The Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
- ^ a b c d Schlegel-Tieck Prize (past winners). The Society of Authors (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
- ^ a b c Literary awards: Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. British Council (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
- ^ Swedish author wins Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2003. Arts Council England (2003-04-07). Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ Book-of-the-Month-Club Translation Prize winners. PEN American Center (2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ Michael Hofmann recipient of the 2000 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize. Goethe Institute (2000). Retrieved on 2007-06-28.
- ^ The Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize (previous winners). St. Anne's College (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
- ^ The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry: Shortlist 2006 - Michael Hofmann. The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry (2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
