Festival Neue Literatur has announced the winner of the inaugural Friedrich Ulfers Prize, a prize endowed by Professor Friedrich Ulfers, former director of Deutsches Haus New York University. Deutsches Haus NYU will award the prize through Festival Neue Literatur. The annual prize was established to honor an individual who has championed the advancement of German-language literature in the United States.
Please see below for the official press release:
PRESS RELEASE
February 13, 2013
Festival Neue Literatur Announces Winner of Inaugural Friedrich Ulfers Prize
Prize for exemplary work in the promotion of German-language literature in the U.S. will be awarded to Carol Brown Janeway.
NEW YORK – The inaugural Friedrich Ulfers Prize will be awarded to Carol Brown Janeway at the fourth annual Festival Neue Literatur, New York’s preeminent German-language literary festival. The annual prize, awarded by Deutsches Haus at New York University and endowed by renowned scholar Professor Friedrich Ulfers, was created to award outstanding individuals who have championed the advancement of German-language literature in the United States.
Ms. Janeway was selected by a jury composed of representatives of the festival’s partner institutions and will be honored at the festival’s opening ceremony on February 21 at the Goethe-Institut New York.
Ms. Janeway will receive $5,000, as well as a trophy sponsored by Swarovski Gems.
“Carol Brown Janeway’s legendary translations and publications of writers such as Bernhard Schlink, Daniel Kehlmann, and Thomas Bernhard show how a single person can shape the perception of contemporary German-language literature in an entire country,“ says Martin Rauchbauer, Director of Deutsches Haus at NYU. “Thousands of American readers and fans of these writers have been introduced by her to an exciting literary world.”
Ms. Janeway was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. After graduating from Cambridge University with a Double First in Modern and Medieval Languages, she entered publishing, where she is now a senior executive. Ms. Janeway is also a distinguished literary translator from the French. Her translations include The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, Guilt by Ferdinand von Schirach, and Measuring the World and Fame by Daniel Kehlmann, who will present the prize to Ms. Janeway.
“Ms. Janeway is a true advocate for German-language literature. Her work as an editor and translator has introduced countless Americans to prolific German-language authors. We are proud to celebrate Ms. Janeway for her dedication to German-language literature. She represents the very fundamentals of the prize,” said Riky Stock, Director of the German Book Office.
About Festival Neue Literatur
Festival Neue Literatur (FNL) is New York’s first and only annual German-language literary festival, established in 2010 as a collaborative project of New York’s leading German-language cultural institutions. Each year, FNL brings six of the best up-and-coming German-language authors from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland to New York. Over the festival weekend, featured authors engage in a series of panels and readings with U.S. guest authors. Past U.S. authors include Francisco Goldman, Chris Adrian, Rivka Galchen, and Francine Prose. For more information, visit: festivalneueliteratur.org.
FNL Media Contact:
Dustin Cosentino & Brittany Hazelwood
media@festivalneueliteratur.org
(212) 439-8700