Elke Erb
/Germany
Born 1938 in Scherbad (Eifel) in what was then East Berlin. Since 1966 Erb has worked primarily as a poet, writer, translator, literary critic and essayist. Since 1974 she has been translating Russian authors such as Marina Cvetajeva, Aleksander Puškin, Aleksander Blok, Sergej Jesenin, Boris Pasternak, Ana Ahmatova and Olga Martinova. Her first collection of poetry was Gutachen of 1975, followed by Einer schreit: Nicht! (1976), De Faden der Geduld (1978), and Trost (1982). In 1998 Erb won the Peter-Huchel Preis for her collection Kastanienallee, which was followed by numerous other awards.