crabwalk_grass
2005 Longlist

Crabwalk

artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

Crabwalk tells the story of the sinking of the ‘Wilhelm Gustloff’, a former cruise ship turned refugee carrier, by a Soviet submarine in January 1945. Some 9,000 people, most of them women and children fleeing from the advancing Red Army, went down in the Baltic Sea, making it the deadliest maritime disaster of all time.
Grass’s narrator is one of the few survivors, a middle-aged journalist who lives in Berlin. Born to an unwed mother on a lifeboat the night of the attack, Paul Pokriefke tries to piece together the tragic events. While his mother Tulla sees her whole existence in terms of that calamitous moment, Paul wishes their life could have been more normal, less touched by the past. For his teenage son Konrad, who dabbles in the dark, far-right corner of the internet, the ‘Gustloff’ embodies the denial of Germany’s wartime agony.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Günter
Grass

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Krishna
Winston

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
22/11/2024
Country
Germany
Original Language
German
Author
Publisher
Harcourt, Faber & Faber
Translator
Krishna Winston

RELATED FEATURES

News January 15 2025

2025 Longlist Revealed

Novels by seven Irish authors are among the 71 books nominated by 83 libraries around the world!
News November 19 2024

2025 Dublin Literary Award Judges Announced

Meet our judging panel for 2025 Dublin Literary Award
Video November 1 2024

2024 Dublin Literary Award Ceremony

2024 Dublin Literary Award Ceremony announcement live-streamed from the International Literature Festival Dublin.
Audio June 11 2024

All About Books Podcast Features the 2024 Dublin Literary Award

Dublin City FM podcaster Katy Conneely spotlights the award.

STAY CONNECTED

Stay in touch and sign up to our newsletter to receive all the latest news and updates on the Dublin Literary Award.