@rossmbenjamin

Literary translator. 2015 Guggenheim Fellow. Transl. of Daniel Kehlmann’s TYLL shortlisted for 2020 Booker International Prize. KAFKA’S DIARIES (2023 Schocken)

 Nyack, NY
rossmbenjamin.com
Joined May 2021
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23Media
A guest essay I wrote for @nytopinion on how the experience of translating Kafka’s diaries deepened my understanding of Kafka and of translation nytimes.com/2023/02/02/opini…

Opinion | A Century On, the Search for the Real Franz Kafka Continues (Published 2023)

Translating Kafka’s diaries revealed a writer even more alive than English-language readers previously knew.

nytimes.com
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Let's dive into Kafka's diaries in a few weeks!
New York Institute for the Humanities@NYIHatNYPLOct 22
NYIH-McNally Jackson online Kafka seminar starts soon! Explore Ross Benjamin’s phenomenal translation of Kafka’s Diaries with Ross himself, each session combining close reading with discussion of Kafka’s life, literary practice, historical context, and enduring significance.
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Who better to read Kafka's Diaries with than their translator, NYIH Fellow Ross Benjamin? We're delighted to announce our first online class with McNally! For more information and to sign up, mcnallyjackson.com/event/202…
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Ross Benjamin retweeted
Saurabh (they)@writerly_lifeMay 17
For @TheHinduBooks, interviewed @rossmbenjamin, translator of the #2026InternationalBookerPrize-shortlisted novel by #DanielKehlmann, #TheDirector, a fictionalised version of #GWPabst’s filmography during the Nazi era. thehindu.com/books/books-aut… @TheBookerPrizes @HachetteIndia

Interview | Translator Ross Benjamin on the International Booker-shortlisted novel, The Director 

Explore translator Ross Benjamin's insights on adapting Daniel Kehlmann's International Booker-nominated novel, "The Director," about filmmaker G.W. Pabst.

thehindu.com
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Ross Benjamin retweeted
The Cullman Center@CullmanNYPLMar 31
Thrilled to see 'The Director' by past @CullmanNYPL Fellow Daniel Kehlmann has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize! Congratulations to Kehlmann and to translator @rossmbenjamin! thebookerprizes.com/the-book…

The International Booker Prize 2026 | The Booker Prizes

Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated by Lin King, has won the International Booker Prize 2026, supported by Bukhman Philanthropies

thebookerprizes.com
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Ross Benjamin retweeted
The Atlantic
@TheAtlanticJan 4
Bumbling your way through any language will always be better than popping in AirPods. The literary translator @rossmbenjamin on what we stand to lose in a world of instant translation: theatln.tc/ioNz966d
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The everyday erosion of resistance: What I learned from translating Daniel Kehlmann’s ‘The Director’ abc.net.au/religion/ross-ben…

What I learned from translating Daniel Kehlmann’s ‘The Director’ - ABC Religion & Ethics

Kehlmann’s novel captures how acquiescence happens — not all at once, not at any single identifiable moment. It seeps in, never announcing itself as a choice. Georg Wilhelm Pabst isn’t a man at a...

abc.net.au
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This month, the New York Public Library honored German novelist Daniel Kehlmann, along with a very distinguished group of other writers. Kehlmann was recognized for his breadth of work from his first global bestseller to his latest, "The Director." @CBSMMiller sat down with the acclaimed novelist.
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Ross Benjamin retweeted
The Atlantic
@TheAtlantic10 Nov 2025
Bumbling your way through any language will always be better than popping in AirPods. The literary translator @rossmbenjamin on what we stand to lose in a world of instant translation: theatlantic.com/books/2025/1…

The Costs of Instant Translation

AI might soon rob us of the thrill and challenge of cross-cultural conversation.

theatlantic.com
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Shana Tova! New post on FRANZ: open.substack.com/pub/franzj…
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Happy Sunday? Many thanks to @JudithShulevitz , author of THE SABBATH WORLD, for thinking through Kafka’s Sundays with me. Our exchange delves into a passage in one of Kafka’s early letters, where we discuss his “Sunday neurosis,” conflicted Jewishness, and complicated desires.
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franzjournal.substack.com/p/…
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“An Onslaught Against the Boundary” open.substack.com/pub/franzj…
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I wrote a piece for @derspiegel, on the US reception of Daniel Kehlmann’s THE DIRECTOR, my latest translation--a historical novel about G. W. Pabst, who fled the Nazis only to return and make films under them.
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Pull quote: “Most people don’t think they’re capitulating; they think--or convince themselves--they’re protecting what matters.”
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Posted my translation of the next Kafka letter on FRANZ, to Oskar Pollak in 1903.
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more replies
Damn it, how one would like to wake up the fellows in the coach, if one had a post horn.”
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franzjournal.substack.com/p/…
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Franz Kafka was born on this day in 1883. To mark the occasion, consider subscribing to FRANZ, a Substack devoted to creative engagement with his work, including my translation of his complete letters, a new letter every other week, in chronological order.
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More than twenty are already available—many of them appearing in English for the first time. franzjournal.substack.com/s/…
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