The video made to ccompany the shortlisting of my translation of Ulrike Amut Sandig's I am a field full of rapeseed, give cover to deer and shine like thirteen oll-paintings laid one on top of the other (Seagull books 2020) for the Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize 2021 is available here
Congratulations to the other shortlisted translators and especially to the winner Nichola Smalley with Wretchedness
See the judges citation
Karen Leeder’s translation of Ulrike Almut Sandig’s innovative 2016 poetry collection allows space for a startling variety of distinct speakers. Characters from Grimm fairy tales wait beside voices recognisable from present-day bus-stop and street. The fairy tale theme (wolves, Hansel and Gretel) runs throughout this collection, the first half of which deals boldly with conflict and war crimes in recent memory. Leeder shapes a polyphonic work where Fitcher’s bird bathes in honey before butchery and priests lift from the ground. The title of this book is a beauty in itself, making it an excellent clue to what lies within.