Recognitions - Translator Hans Wolf Receives German Language Culture Award
Translation:
Hans Wolf, the translator, Love Letter Archive (Koblenz/Darmstadt), and Steffen Gailberger as the initiator of the school project "Leseband" will be honored with the Cultural Prize German Language 2024. The Eberhard-Schöck-Foundation made this announcement on Tuesday. The award ceremony will occur on September 28 in Baden-Baden.
The local Baden-Baden native, Hans Wolf, will receive the main prize, the Jacob-Grimm Prize, for his lifelong work as a translator. Worth 30,000 euros, this prize is given in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field. The 74-year-old studied German language and literature, as well as English, since the 1980s, and has been translating authors such as Oscar Wilde, Cormac McCarthy, Richard Yates, and Arthur Conan Doyle into German ever since.
The jury of the Cultural Prize wants to highlight the importance of translators of foreign literature and their role in enriching the German language. Spokesman for the jury, Wolf Peter Klein, stated, "Hans Wolf demonstrates how the German language can evolve, grow, and become relevant through contact with other languages." Wolf possesses "a profound knowledge of the German language's richness, including the subtlest shades of meaning and wordplay."
The Eberhard-Schöck-Foundation established the Cultural Prize German Language in 2001, awarding it jointly with the German Academy for Language and Poetry. The award is given to individuals, institutions, and initiatives that have made significant contributions to the German language.
The Initiative Prize German Language, worth 5,000 euros, will be bestowed upon Steffen Gailberger, founder and organizer of the "Leseband" project this year. This initiative aims to improve reading literacy in primary schools for linguistically and socially disadvantaged girls and boys.
The Love Letter Archive, with locations in Koblenz and Darmstadt, will receive the undotted Instruction Prize German Language in 2024. It preserves love messages in a variety of forms, including traditional love letters, postcards, and digital messages. This civic scientific project showcases the diversity of the German language in expressing emotions and fostering close social relationships.
