Durs Grünbein is the author of seven volumes of poetry, most recently Ashes for Breakfast (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006, tr. Michael Hoffman) and a collection of essays. His work has been awarded many major German literary prizes, including the highest, the Georg-Büchner-Preis, which he won at age 33. Grünbein’s collections of poetry include Grauzone morgens and Schädelbasislektion. In 1995, he received the Peter Huchel Prize for Poetry. He has also published several essay collections and new translations of plays from antiquity, among them Aeschylus’ The Persians, and Seneca’s Thyestes. His work, which also includes contributions to catalogues and a libretto for opera, has been translated into many languages. He has lived in Berlin since 1985. Recorded as part of the Poem Present series. © 2007, The University of Chicago

Recorded Friday, February 16, 2007 at University of Chicago.