Uljana Wolf was born in Berlin in 1979. She studied German literature, cultural studies, and English literature in Berlin and Krakow. Her work as both author and translator often focuses on polyglot themes. Since 2005, she has published multiple original works, including her volume of poems meine schönste lengevitch (kookbooks 2013). Her numerous translations of Polish and English works into German include the poetry of Polish author Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki. She also translates into English, for example, her recent translation of Ilse Aichinger’s short story “Bad Words” (Seagull Books 2019, together with Christian Hawkey).

Among her many awards and recognitions, Uljana Wolf was also the recipient of the Peter Huchel Prize (2006), the Adalbert von Chamisso Prize (2016), and the Erlangen Literary Prize for Poetry as Translation (2015). She has taught at various institutions, including the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York University, and the Institute of Creative Writing in Vienna.

The translation professorship at Freie Universität promotes the study of translation as a literary art form. The professor’s own translation methods as well as those of others become objects of critical reflection, while the technique of comparative text analysis brings the original into dialogue with its translation or examines different translations of the same text. The professorship also aims to open up a space for historicizing reflections on methods and theories of literary translation.

August Wilhelm von Schlegel, the professorship’s namesake, was himself known for his work as a literary scholar, poet, and literary translator. The Deutsche Übersetzerfonds and the Peter Szondi Institute view the August Wilhelm von Schlegel Visiting Professorship as a significant step toward greater appreciation of literary translation as an independent artistic achievement and as a tool for counteracting the still widely held view that literary translation is a secondary “craft.”