O You Animals!

Nelly Sachs (1891–1970) found asylum in Sweden where she lived for the rest of life. Her first book of poetry, In der Wohnungen des Todes (In the Dwelling Places of Death), was not published until 1947. A close friend and correspondent of Paul Celan’s, she shared the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1966 with S. Y. Agnon.

Teresa Iverson is a poet and translator. Her writing has been published extensively in the United States and England. Her version of “O ihr Tiere!” by Nelly Sachs won a translation award from the New England Poetry Club in 2006. (updated 10/2008)