Professor Karen Leeder awarded 2025 Griffin Poetry Prize

Durs Grünbein’s Psyche Running is a brilliant overview and selection of a poet who satisfies our hunger to be serious, as again and again he finds himself “between words and things.” Karen Leeder’s adept translations establish a new version of Grünbein in English: universal, lyrical, philosophical.

2025 Griffin Poetry Prize - judges citation

The prestigious international award recognises excellence in poetry written or translated into English. Leeder’s translation was selected from 578 submissions representing 20 languages and 17 countries. The prize, one of the most significant in the field, carries a total of C$130,000, with 60% awarded to the translator and 40% to the original author.

Published by Seagull Books in 2024, Psyche Running offers an expansive overview of Grünbein’s work over nearly two decades. The judging panel described the volume as ‘a brilliant overview and selection of a poet who satisfies our hunger to be serious’, praising Leeder’s translation for establishing ‘a new version of Grünbein in English: universal, lyrical, philosophical’.

Professor Leeder, Schwarz-Taylor Chair of German Language and Literature, said:

‘I am so delighted about this tremendous honour from the Griffin Foundation. It is very good for the visibility of poetry translation and also for promoting German and European poetry. Durs Grünbein is one of the essential poets in the world today and I am privileged to be able to bring him to a wider English readership.’

This is the latest in a series of accolades for Leeder’s translation work, which has also been recognised with the Schlegel-Tieck Prize, the PEN/Heim award, and the Stephen Spender Prize. Alongside her post at Oxford, she holds a three-year Einstein Visiting Fellowship at the Free University of Berlin for her project AfterWords.