British translator Karen Leeder and German writer Durs Grünbein win Griffin Poetry Prize

By Canadian Press on June 4, 2025.

TORONTO — British scholar Karen Leeder’s translation of “Psyche Running” by Durs Grünbein has won the Griffin Poetry Prize.

They were awarded the $130,000 literary prize at a ceremony in Toronto.

Leeder is a professor of German language and literature at Oxford University, and the Griffin judges praise her translation as being “universal, lyrical, philosophical.”

This is the second time a translation of work by Grünbein, who lives in Berlin, has been shortlisted for the Griffin.

“Ashes for Breakfast: Selected Poems,” translated by Michael Hoffmann, was a finalist for the International Griffin Poetry Prize in 2006, before the Canadian and global prizes were combined.

Margaret Atwood also received the $25,000 Lifetime Recognition Award at the poetry reading and ceremony.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2025.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press