Olaf Kühl, the German-language translator of Szczepan Twardoch’s novel Null, has been named a laureate of the Karl Dedecius Prize 2026. The award was granted for his translation Die Nulllinie. Roman aus dem Krieg, published by Rowohlt Verlag.
The Karl Dedecius Prize honours translators of Polish and German-language literature, recognising the role of literary translation as a tool for dialogue and the building of relations between Poland and Germany. Its patron, Karl Dedecius, was one of the most important translators of Polish literature into German. The prize is partnered by the Villa Decius Institute for Culture in Kraków.
Null was published in February 2025 by Wydawnictwo Marginesy. It is a powerful novel about the brotherhood of arms, loyalty, the violence of war, and the darkness and light within people. The book was met with wide acclaim from both readers and the literary world — it took first place in the Lubimyczytac.pl Book of the Year 2025 poll, was named Empik Bestseller 2025 in the fiction category, and was ranked first on the weekly magazine Polityka‘s list of the best Polish books of the year. The German edition placed second in the inaugural Spiegel Buchpreis, awarded by Der Spiegel magazine. The film adaptation option was acquired by Bombero International, the company led by award-winning German director Fatih Akin.
The novel is already available in German, Italian, Belarusian and Slovak, with translations into Japanese, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Spanish currently in preparation.
We warmly congratulate Olaf Kühl on this prestigious honour!