Award-winning German writer and her translator

Ulrike Almut Sandig visited the University with her English translator, Professor Karen Leeder. Leeds was the first stop on her tour of UK universities.

Ulrike and Karen spent some time with students in a translation workshop during the afternoon: the workshop included work on translations of some of Ulrike’s prose, focusing on the questions of human identity and the style of narrative that are central to her writing, and students then went on to produce translations of one of Ulrike’s poems. A public reading at Leeds Central Library also included both poetry and prose, and those who came to the reading were also able to get a taste of Ulrike’s sound installation and video work.

The reading was supported by the International Writers at Leeds programme.

Two Sandig poems, translated by Karen Leeder, can be read here.

Ulrike Almut Sandig is one of the most acclaimed German writers of her generation. She has received several literary prizes, and her texts have been translated into a number of languages.

Translator Karen Leeder is Professor of Modern German Literature at New College, Oxford, and is the winner of the 2013 Times Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation.