Wolfgang Hilbig was one of the major German writers to emerge in the postwar era. Though raised in East Germany, he proved so troublesome to the authorities that in 1985 he was granted permission to emigrate to the West. The author of over 20 books, he received virtually all of Germany’s major literary prizes, capped by the 2002 Georg Büchner Prize, Germany’s highest literary honor.

On December 3rd, the translator of Hilbig’s work into English, Isabel Fargo Cole, will read from her translation of Hilbig’s career-defining story collection, “The Sleep of the Righteous”, and talk about Hilbig’s career, work, and what it was like to translate the enigmatic prose of a German master with editorial director of Two Lines Press, CJ Evans.