The Griffin Poetry Prize for 2025 has been awarded to Professor Karen Leeder for her translation of Durs Grünbein's "Psyche Running." The prize, a notable recognition in the poetry community, celebrates outstanding poetry written or translated into English. This year, it saw 578 submissions from 20 languages across 17 countries.
Leeder's work was praised by the judges as "a brilliant overview and selection of a poet who satisfies our hunger to be serious," highlighting how her translations have established "a new version of Grünbein in English: universal, lyrical, philosophical." Published by Seagull Books in 2024, "Psyche Running" encapsulates nearly two decades of Grünbein’s poetic endeavors.
Professor Leeder expressed her gratitude stating, "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."
The Griffin Poetry Prize includes a total award amount of C$130,000 with 60% allocated to the translator and 40% to the original author. This achievement adds to Leeder's distinguished career in translation, which has previously earned her accolades such as the Schlegel-Tieck Prize, PEN/Heim award, and Stephen Spender Prize. Alongside her role at Oxford University as Schwarz-Taylor Chair of German Language and Literature, she holds an Einstein Visiting Fellowship at Berlin's Free University for her project AfterWords.