1998

British translator John Brownjohn (in the picture with Marcel Beyer) was selected by a five member jury to receive the Third Helen and Kurt Wolff Prize 1998 for his outstanding translation of
Thomas Brussig's Helden wie wir / Heroes Like Us (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997) and
Marcel Beyer's Flughunde / The Karnau Tapes (Harcourt Brace & Company, 1997).
The German Consul General presented him with the Wolff Prize at an awards ceremony on Monday, June 1, 1998 in Chicago. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the Book Expo America at the McCormick Center.

The jury stated: "John Brownjohn's translations of Marcel Beyer's The Karnau Tapes and Thomas Brussig's Heroe Like Us demonstrate a genuine gift for rendering the spirit and letter of the original works while achieving a powerfully convincing sense of voice and style in the translation. .. he rises to meet every challenge posed by the original... and not only lifts the act of translation to an imaginative and interpretive art, but also proves himself a consummate stylist in his own right."

Shortlisted for the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize 1998 were Edward Snow and Michael Winkler for their translation of Rainer Maria Rilke: Diaries of a Young Poet (W.W.Norton & Co., 1997) and Breon Mitchell for his translation of Ein Gott der Frechheit / God of Impertinence by Sten Nadolny (Penguin Putnam, Inc., 1997)

Mr. Brownjohn has distinguished himself as a translator of German literature, biographies, memoirs, letters, politics, and art books. His translations include works of Michael Ende, Bodo Kirchhoff, Hans Hellmut Kirst, Otto Klemperer, Martin Gregor-Dellin and Rolf Hochhut. John Brownjohn's translations have received excellent reviews in Times Literary Supplement, The Literary Review, Best Sellers, The New York Times Book Review, The Observer and Publishers Weekly.

Mr. Brownjohn has also been involved as a script and dialogue consultant. Among his screen credits are The Boat (Das Boot) directed by Wolfgang Petersen, Bitter Moon directed by Roman Polanski and The Name of the Rose and The Bear by Jean-Jacques Annaud.

John Brownjohn is the recipient of four previous translation awards:
1979 Schlegel-Tieck Special Award
1981 US PEN Goethe House Prize
1993 Schlegel-Tieck Award
1995 Christopher Award