Durs Grünbein

The poet, translator and essayist Durs Grünbein was born in Dresden in 1962 and studied in Berlin from 1984 to 1987. After quitting his studies in theatre history, he sought permission to emigrate from the GDR. While his application was being processed, Grünbein began writing poetry and prose and worked at theatres and museums. His first literary pieces appeared in underground magazines in the Berlin and Dresden art scenes. Heiner Müller helped him establish contact with the Suhrkamp Verlag in Frankfurt am Main which published his first book of poetry Grauzone morgens (Morning in the Grey Zone) in the West in 1988. After 1989, he spent time travelling through Europe, South East Asia and the United States. While in the US, he guest lectured at several universities. In 2005, he began working as a professor at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Georg Büchner Prize in 1995, the Friedrich Nietzsche Prize in 2004, the Friedrich Hölderlin Prize in 2005, the Berlin Literature Prize in 2006 and the international Pier Paolo Pasolini Prize in Rome in 2006. He is a member of several academies, such as the German Academy for Language and Poetry in Darmstadt. His books have been translated into many languages. His most recent books by Suhrkamp include On Snow or Descartes in Germany, 2003. Porcelain, 2005. Gedicht und Geheimnis. Essays, 2007. Verses for the Day after Tomorrow. Poems, 2007.