Michael Hofmann

About

Michael Hofmann is a British poet, essayist, and literary translator of German literature into English. Born in Freiburg, West Germany, in 1957, he moved to England with his family as a child and became known for his distinctive poetic voice, marked by wit, irony, and linguistic precision. Alongside his own poetry, Hofmann has translated numerous major German-language writers, including Franz Kafka, Joseph Roth, Herta Müller, and Wolfgang Koeppen, helping introduce their work to English-speaking readers. His translations have received widespread recognition for preserving the complexity and distinctive style of the original texts. As both a poet and translator, Hofmann explores themes of displacement, identity, memory, and the relationship between language and culture, bridging German and English literary traditions.