Who gives works their longevity?
     Those who will live after.
     Whom to choose as builders?
     Those still unborn.

from 'About the Way to Construct Enduring Works' by Bertolt Brecht (translated by Karen Leeder)

An anthology of German poetry translated into English.

Including poems by Wolf Biermann, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Paul Celan, Peter Huchel and Heinrich Böll

Including translations by David Constantine, Ian Fairley, Michael Hamburger, Michael Hofmann and Karen Leeder

Bertolt Brecht's life as a dramatist, poet and polemicist has inspired writers from all over the world. This anthology, published to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his death in August 1956, brings together English translations of poems by German poets who have responded to his remarkable legacy. Celebrating the continuing creative dialogue between Brecht and 'those who will live after', it includes poems from East and West Germany and Austria; poems written duing Brecht's own lifetime by friends, lovers and colleagues; responses to his death, and works by later writers for whom Brecht remains a challenge and an inspiration. After Brecht: A Celebration demonstrates the way in which Brecht's concerns and his unique diction have become a part of the very stuff of modern poetry.