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Jan Wagner c_gezett
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Jan Wagner (born in 1971 in Hamburg) combines the highest mastery of form with surprising poetic images without ever being traditionalistic. Hardly any other poet of his generation plays in such a virtuoso way and with such an unmistakeable tone with the poetic tradition from ancient times to the day before yesterday. In his poems the simple radish, midges with the bodies of sphinxes and a biker in the vastness of Montana all make an appearance.
Wagner studied English in Hamburg, and later at Trinity College in Dublin, before moving in 1995 to Berlin, where he has lived ever since. Parallel to his studies he devoted himself heavily to the working on the international literature box Die Außenseite des Elements, which he edited with Thomas Girst until 2003. Together with Björn Kuhligk he edited the anthology Lyrik von Jetzt. 74 Stimmen in 2003, which became the starting point for a flood of influential collections by young German-speaking poets.
As well as writing and publishing his own poems, essays and criticism, Wagner has been translating English poetry since the 1990s, most notably the work of Charles Simic, James Tate, Matthew Sweeney, Simon Armitage, Robin Robertson, Michael Hamburger and Dan Chiasson. Wagner’s poems have been translated into more than thirty languages. He is a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry, the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts and the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature. Among many other awards, in 2015 Wagner was the first poet ever to win the Prize of the Leipzig Book Fair.
Publications (a selection):
Der verschlossene Raum. Beiläufige Prosa. Hanser Berlin, Berlin 2017
Selbstporträt mit Bienenschwarm. Ausgewählte Gedichte 2001–2015. Hanser Berlin, Berlin 2016
Regentonnenvariationen. Gedichte. Hanser Berlin, Berlin 2014
Die Sandale des Propheten. Essays. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2011
Australien. Gedichte. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2010
Achtzehn Pasteten. Gedichte. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2007
Guerickes Sperling. Gedichte. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2004
Probebohrung im Himmel. Gedichte, Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2001
Prizes (a selection):
Samuel Bogumil Linde Prize (jointly with Kazimierz Brakoniecki) 2016
2015 Prize of the Leipzig Book Fair in the category Fiction and Poetry for Regentonnenvariationen
2015 Mörike Prize of the Town of Fellbach
Fellowship of the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo 2011
Friedrich Hölderlin Prize of the University and the University City of Tübingen 2011
Arno Reinfrank Literature Prize 2006
Ernst Meister Prize 2005
Anna Seghers Prize 2004