»Only in a foreign land do we become close to ourselves.«
»Then a sentence materialises – one word leads to another, tentatively. They break the seal of realities, the surfaces crack.«
His verses combine the precise observations of small things with the subtle irony of an observer who is especially concerned with what is often buried underneath the big issues. Conjuring up a poem with just a few strokes is his craft, one that has matured over the years.
»Durs Grünbein [finds] in this cleverly composed volume, which ranges from formally constructed to free prose poems, something like a new lightness in which even a shopping list he found can transform into poetry.« Nils Kahlefendt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
»Durs Grünbein's poems are dead zones in the best sense of the word: they are receptive to something other than the roaring data streams.« Roman Bucheli, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
»The poet’s strength ... is a breezy mixture of pathos and discreetness. ... At times, this collection of poetry feels like one is leafing through old albums that give historical images a ghostly presence.« Peter von Becker, Der Tagesspiegel
»Political poetry cannot be better.« Christian Schlüter, Berliner Zeitung
»Grünbein‘s anti-fascism is humanist and alert ...« Mario Pschera, neues deutschland
»Equidistance is an intelligent, open and delicate volume of poetry ... in which [Grünbein] appears as a melancholic enlightener and residual romantic. Intellectually and emotionally generous.« Beate Tröger, Deutschlandfunk
»Grünbein's writing seems determined by a lightness, to be somewhat of a sketch, a sometimes enchanting casualness.« Ulrich Rüdenauer, SWR2
»The bandwidth of the wealth of experience condensed into language is a gift and shows Grünbein at a new peak of his work.« Björn Hayer, Deutschlandfunk Kultur
»Durs Grünbein [finds] in this cleverly composed volume, which ranges from formally constructed to free prose poems, something like a new lightness in which even a shopping list he found can...
Persons
Durs Grünbein
Durs Grünbein, born in Dresden in 1962, read theatre studies in Berlin, after which he worked as a freelancer writing for various literary magazines. He is one of the most important and internationally influential German poets and essayists and the recipient of numerous prestigious literary prizes. His debut volume of poetry published in 1988 was entitled Grauzone morgens and he went on to publish nearly twenty collections of poetry including Vom Schnee oder Descartes in Deutschland (2003), Der Misanthrop auf Capri (2005), Porzellan. Poem vom Untergang meiner Stadt (2005) and Zündkerzen (2017). He is also the author of a collection of essays and opera librettos. He has translated the tragedies of Aeschylus and Seneca into...
Durs Grünbein, born in Dresden in 1962, read theatre studies in Berlin, after which he worked as a freelancer writing for various literary...
OTHER PUBLICATIONS

The Comet
»Now they were all mere playthings in the grasping arms of a state order such as had never existed before. An order that could only be destroyed from the outside by lightning and...
English world rights (Seagull), Chinese simplex rights (Shanghai People's Publishing House), Italy (Einaudi), Sweden (Ersatz)

For the Dying Calves
In his four Lord Weidenfeld Lectures held in Oxford in 2019, poet Durs Grünbein deals with a topic that has occupied his mind ever since the moment he started to perceive his own position...
English world rights (Seagull)

From the Dream (Files)
The title of a book of poetry could not be any more provocative, and still the poet allows no room for doubt: »In general, that which we call reality is greatly overestimated.«...
France (selection; 17 Muscles)

Spark Plugs
Spark Plugs is a collection of 83 poems in diverse forms consisting of dream fragments, snippets of speech, prose poems, broken sonnets, and sequences that read like accident reports....
Portuguese rights (Edições do Saguão), Italy (selection; Einaudi)

The Years at the Zoo
English world rights (Seagull), Sweden (Ersatz)

Cyrano or Returning from the Moon
What is going on? The Americans are abandoning the moon, leaving the earth’s seemingly dead companion to stragglers. Time to recapitulate: On a Sunday afternoon in Berlin, on the airfield of the disused Tempelhof Airport, poet Durs Grünbein makes a momentuous observation.
What if humanity only ever wanted to return from its adventures in space exploration? Yesterday it was the...
Colossus in the Fog
Durs Grünbein’s volumes of poetry are known for grasping their subjetcs in larger and larger circles, in their concentric sprawl they seem made for this age of globalisation. His new collection of poetry follows the outline of an exhibition. Works from the last five to eight years are presented in seven sections.
There are images of a journey, excursions into the unknown routine,...

The Vocation of Poetry
Proceeding on the observation that poetics that create norms and set benchmarks no longer existed, Grünbein traces his poetic career as a »sketch of a personal psychopoetics«.
This...
English world rights (Upper West Side Philosophers), Turkey (Ketebe)

The Bars of Atlantis
The term »metaphor« derives from the Greek metà phérein (»to carry elsewhere«), which, in Antiquity, usually meant »by ship«, so that sea travel itself soon became a metaphor for poetry....
English world rights (FSG), Sweden (Ersatz), Albania (Aleph Klub)

Praise of the Typhoon
Durs Grünbein visited Japan four times, in pursuit of a long elective affinity for the East that is also reflected in his works. During all of the four journeys he kept a travel journal in the...
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: France (Voix de Plumes)

The Cartesian Diver
English world rights (Upper West Side Philosophers), Sweden (Ersatz)

Verses for the Day after Tomorrow
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Einaudi)

Poem and Secret
This volume contains 25 essays. It provides a chronological rip cut of Durs Grünbein‘s rich essay writing over the course of more than 15 years – from the early, much-quoted texts...
Italy (Einaudi)

Antique Dispositions

Porcelain
English world rights (Seagull)

The Misanthrope on Capri
The Misanthrope on Capri (a reference to emperor Tiberius) gathers Durs Grünbein’s »histories«, printed in various publications and in his own volumes of poetry – poems that mainly deal...
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Poland (Slowo)

On Snow or Descartes in Germany
France (Greges), Italy (Einaudi), Sweden (Ersatz)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Greece (Keedros)

Why Live Without Writing
In the nine essays and speeches collected in this volume, Durs Grünbein circles the prerequisites, conditions and consequences of writing.
»The intimate tries to assert itself through writing,« he says, »paradoxically by exposing itself publicly. But it soon becomes clear that the public is nothing by a particularly impervious protective layer.« Grünbein lets the reader partake in...

Declared Night
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Einaudi), Hungary (Jelenkor)

The First Year
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Einaudi)

After the Satires
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: France (Petits Matins), Hungary (Jelenkor)

The Dear Dead
»Stop, wanderer, and read!«, called out the tombstones to the passers-by two thousand years ago. Inscriptions spoke of the pleasures of the deceased, of profession and merit, character...
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Portuguese rights (Angelus Novus), Norway (Bokvennen), Japan (CHUO University Press)

Grey Area in the Mornings
The »silent turmoil« of an elegiac expressionism is what propels Durs Grünbein’s poems forwards, who notes his experience of reality in crass and direct...
Italy (Einaudi); previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Poesia Hidalgo), Hungary (Jelenkor)