The College warmly congratulates Schwarz-Taylor Chair of German Language and Literature Professor Karen Leeder FRSA MAE who has won the Griffin Prize for Poetry with her translation of Durs Grünbein’s Psyche Running: Selected Poems 2005-2022 (Seagull Books, 2024).
Judges Nick Laird, Anne Michaels, and Tomasz Różycki read 578 books of poetry, including 47 translations from 20 languages, submitted by 219 publishers from 17 different countries. The winner was announced at the end of the Griffin Poetry Prize Readings held at Koerner Hall on 4 June. The evening included readings by the 2025 shortlisted poets, Aaron Coleman, Durs Grünbein, Brian Henry, Karen Leeder, Carl Phillips, Diane Seuss, and Dawn Macdonald—the Canadian First Book Prize winner.
Prof Leeder said:
The Griffin prize is such a special award: the only one open to volumes of poetry either written in English or translated into English. This is so important for the visibility of translation and I could not be more delighted to see this fantastic volume up there with the greats. It is a privilege to translate such a marvellous poet, one who speaks about and for our times.
The international Griffin Poetry Prize was founded in 2000 to encourage and celebrate excellence in poetry. The prize is for first edition books of poetry written in, or translated into, English and submitted from anywhere in the world.
