The Friedrich Ulfers Prize
The Friedrich Ulfers Prize was established in 2013 and is awarded annually at the opening ceremony of Festival Neue Literatur by Deutsches Haus at New York University to a leading publisher, writer, critic, translator, or scholar who has championed the advancement of German-language literature in the United States. The prize is endowed with a $5000 grant, and gives testimony to the rising importance of German-language literature in America today.
Prizewinners:
2022
Riky Stock, Managing Director of NorthSouth Books
Laudator: Barbara Perlmutter
2021
Jill Schoolman, founder and publisher of Archipelago Books
Laudator: Tess Lewis
2019
Susan Bernofsky, translator, author, and professor (Columbia University)
Laudator: Rivka Galchen, writer
2018
Barbara Perlmutter, scout and representative for the S. Fischer Verlag
Laudator: Robert Weil, Editor-in-Chief and Publishing Director of Liveright
2017
Barbara Epler, President of New Directions Publishing
Laudator: Susan Bernofsky, author, translator and director of the Literary Translation Program in the MFA Writing Program at Columbia University School of Arts
2016
Burton Pike, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature and German at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Laudator: Shelley Frisch, award-winning translator and author of The Lure of the Linguistic
2015
Robert Weil, Editor-in-Chief and Publishing Director of Liveright
Laudator: Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation
2014
Sara Bershtel, publisher of Metropolitan Books
Laudator: Christoph Hein, acclaimed German author and translator
2013
Carol Brown Janeway, senior vice-president and senior editor at Alfred A. Knopf
Laudation: Daniel Kehlmann, award-winning author of Measuring the World, Me and Kaminski, and Fame
About Friedrich Ulfers
Friedrich Ulfers is Associate Professor of German at New York University. In the past he also served as Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Science, the German Department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of the NYU in Berlin Summer Program and Director of Deutsches Haus at NYU. The recipient of NYU's Distinguished Teaching Medal and Great Teacher Award, and two-time winner of the College of Arts and Science's Golden Dozen Award for Excellence in Teaching, Ulfers has taught not only in the German Department but also in NYU's interdisciplinary programs, offering courses that engage a range of interests, including literary theory, continental philosophy, and the relationships between science, literature, and philosophy. Friedrich Ulfers is also affiliated with the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. He served there as professor of Philosophy, teaching an intensive Summer Seminar on Nietzsche and 20th/21st Century Thought and giving a variety of lectures. From 2006-2009 he was Dean of the Media and Communications Division of the School, and in 2009 he was appointed Professor Emeritus.