The jury for the Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize is pleased to award the prize for 2026 to Max Lawton for his translation of Schattenfroh, by Michael Lentz, published by Deep Vellum. Lentz’s thousand-plus-page work opens with the words, Man nennt es schreiben, or “One calls this writing.” Narrating this metafictional odyssey across non-linear time and multiple dimensions—from two-dimensional worlds contained in maps and paintings to a three-dimensional “cell” to a Swiftian fourth dimension—is Nobody, a cipher imprisoned and compelled to write by a menacing yet similarly immaterial presence known as Schattenfroh. The formidable text, written in “flinty though extravagant German” (NYRB), is by turns illusive, allusive, and elusive, and Lawton’s sure-footed translation is creative in the truest sense, “untranslatable” terms and imagery giving rise to neologisms and metaphors that are no less assertive for their abstruseness. The task of the translator in tracking down countless references, from the familiar (Kafka) to the obscure (Harsdörffer), and deciphering arcana is enormous, yet Lawton manages the task with aplomb—and evident pleasure. The narrative voice shifts frequently—at times frenetically—between archaic forms, colloquialism and dialect, fairy-tale, Christian or kabbalistic incantation, rumination or ribaldry, even poignance, and the jury marveled at Lawton’s agility in capturing each change of shade. Max Lawton’s Promethean translation brings Lentz’s extraordinary literary experiment to life for readers of English the world over. Man nennt es Übersetzen—one calls this translating.

THE JURY
Shelley Frisch, Princeton, NJ (Chair)
Elisabeth Lauffer, Hannacroix, NY
Philip Boehm, Houston, TX

Max Lawton is a writer, musician, and translator. He is currently working in close collaboration with Vladimir Sorokin to publish all of his untranslated works in English. Max is also currently working on or has plans to translate works by Antonio Moresco, Stefano D’Arrigo, Alberto Laiseca, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Eduard Limonov, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Hans Henny Jahnn, and Miquel de Palol. His first novel Progress is coming out with Verso in 2027. His translations have appeared in The New Yorker, n+1, Harper’s, The Baffler, The White Review, and Joyland. He lives in Los Angeles, where, when he isn’t writing, he plays heavy metal and noise music.