Literature in Translation
Interview with Uljana Wolf

Uljana Wolf is a poet and translator, whose work plays with the linguistic and cultural possibilities that exist between German and English and their cross-over with multiple languages.

Uljana Wolf is a poet and translator, whose work plays with the linguistic and cultural possibilities that exist between German and English and their cross-over with multiple languages. Her first book of poetry, “kochanie ich habe brot gekauft”—which was awarded the prestigious Peter-Huchel Prize—is concerned with the relationship between Germany and Poland. A second and third collection, “False Friends” and “meine schönste lengevitch”, deal with the poetics of translation, and the etymological and political challenges one faces when crossing physical and psychological borders. Born in Berlin, Wolf now splits her time between Brooklyn and Neukölln. The Goethe-Institut sat down with Wolf to discuss living between two culturally diverse cities, and the poetic potential that exists in multilingual spaces.

Here, Wolf reads an excerpt from her collection, “False Friends”.