Literature

The Arabic poet and essayist Adonis has won Frankfurt’s 2011 Goethe Prize. “Just as Goethe familiarized us with Persian and Arabic poetry in Western Eastern Divan, Adonis has brought the accomplishments of the Europeans moderns into the Arabic cultural sphere, to great effect,” according to the jury.More ...

I was honored to meet Fuad Rifka last year in Weimar, where he was awarded the Goethe Medal.
I was impressed by the intensity of our conversations. He is one of the most important conveyors of culture between East and West.More ...

The renowned Lebanese poet Fuad Rifka died last Saturday at the age of 80. Alongside Adonis and Mahmud Darwish he was one of the great revivers of Arabic poetry, yet among those of his own generation he remained unique until the end. An obituary by Stefan Weidner.More ...

Olivier Le Lay has translated not only Peter Handke but also Elfriede Jelinek and Arno Geiger into French. In an interview, he explains why translation is a craft.More ...