World Literary Awards

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Daniela Seel

ダニエラ・ゼール

Daniera Zeeru

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1974-12-04 （Frankfurt, Germany）
Nationality
Germany
Languages
German
Residence History
Berlin, Germany → Idstein, Germany

Career

Occupations
publisher, poet, literary translator, editor, literary critic
Active Years
2000-
Affiliations
kookbooks (publisher), PEN Berlin (co-founder)
Memberships
PEN Berlin (co-founder)

Education

University of Bayreuth
German studies, Art History, Philosophy
Country: Germany
University of Göttingen
German studies, Philosophy
Country: Germany
Berlin (studies attended)
German studies, Art History
Country: Germany
Studied in Bayreuth, Göttingen and Berlin

Awards

Kurt Wolff Prize (advancement award)
2006
Work: kookbooks (publishing house)
Category: 奨励賞
Organization: Kurt Wolff Foundation (est.)
Result: 受賞
Horst Bienek Prize for Poetry (advancement award)
2007
Category: 奨励賞
Organization: Horst Bienek Prize (organization)
Result: 受賞
Scholarship of the Senate of Berlin
2008
Category: 奨学金
Organization: Senate of Berlin
Result: 受給
Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis (advancement award)
2011
Work: ich kann diese stelle nicht wiederfinden.
Category: 奨励賞
Organization: Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Ernst Meister Prize for Poetry (advancement award)
2011
Work: ich kann diese stelle nicht wiederfinden.
Category: 奨励賞
Organization: Ernst Meister Prize (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Art Prize for Literature of the Land Brandenburg
2011
Category: アート賞
Organization: Land Brandenburg Lotto GmbH
Result: 受賞
Scholarship of the Brandenburger Tor Foundation (residence)
2012
Work: residency in Split
Category: 奨学金／レジデンス
Organization: Brandenburger Tor Foundation
Result: 受給
Translators' House Wales residency at Tŷ Newydd
2013
Work: translator residency
Category: レジデンス
Organization: Translators' House Wales / Tŷ Newydd
Result: 受給
Writer in Residence Programme scholarship of the Goethe-Institut (Reykjavík)
2014
Work: writer residency (Reykjavík)
Category: 奨学金／レジデンス
Organization: Goethe-Institut
Result: 受給
Research scholarship of the Senate of Berlin
2015
Category: 奨学金
Organization: Senate of Berlin
Result: 受給
Villa Aurora fellowship
2015
Category: フェローシップ
Organization: Villa Aurora
Result: 受賞
Scholarship at the Künstlerhof Schreyahn
2016
Category: 奨学金
Organization: Künstlerhof Schreyahn
Result: 受給
Mondsee Poetry Prize
2017
Organization: Mondsee Poetry Prize (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
1. German Publishing Prize – premium prize
2019
Work: kookbooks (publisher)
Category: 受賞
Organization: German Publishing Prize (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Heimrad Bäcker Prize
2023
Organization: Heimrad Bäcker Prize (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Deutscher Literaturfonds scholarship
2023
Category: 奨学金
Organization: Deutscher Literaturfonds
Result: 受給
Kleist Prize
2025
Organization: Kleist Prize (awarding body)
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

ich kann diese stelle nicht wiederfinden.

2011 Poetry

Debut poetry collection exploring fragments of memory and places, interrogating the intersection of language and existence.

memoryplacelanguage

was weißt du schon von prärie.

2015 Poetry

A poetry collection that uses images and observations of the prairie to render the details of existence.

natureobservationexistence

Auszug aus Eden

2019 Poetry

A series of fragmentary poems concerning loss, recovery and origins, as suggested by the title 'Excerpt from Eden'.

lossoriginsrecovery

Bibliography

  • ich kann diese stelle nicht wiederfinden. (2011)
  • was weißt du schon von prärie. (2015)
  • Auszug aus Eden (2019)

Translations by Author

  • gestammelte werke (German translation of Rozalie Hirs; multilingual edition)
  • Die verlorenen Wörter (German edition of Robert Macfarlane's The Lost Words)
  • Die Unsterblichen (German translation of Anne Boyer)
  • Unertrunken (German translation of Alexis Pauline Gumbs)
  • Call Us What We Carry (German translation of Amanda Gorman, in collaboration)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
experimental, language-focused poetryfragmentary and episodic structures
Recurring Motifs
place and geographymemory and lossembodiment and language

Legacy

Recognized not only as a poet but as the founder of the influential small publisher kookbooks. She has contributed to revitalizing poetry and translation in the German-speaking world and is known for supporting emerging writers and translators.

Quotes

  • “Presumptuous 'experts' considered the utopia of a young, innovative literary publisher like the one Daniela Seel has now realised to be completely naïve. Now a thirty-year-old publisher shows us that literary passion can move mountains.”
    Source: Michael Braun (NZZ) (2004)
  • “From time to time, she still gets the feeling that she's on the wrong side, she says, but you can tell that she's happy to carry this burden – and is able to do it. Because behind her delicate, vulnerable appearance there is strength and self-confidence.”
    Source: Richard Kämmerlings (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) (2005)

Trivia

  • Founded the publishing house kookbooks in 2003.
  • Co-founder of PEN Berlin in 2023.
  • Lives in Berlin.