In honour of the Dada Centennial and one of its founding artists, we are presenting the first English translation of the personal letters Hugo Ball wrote during his “artist years” (1911 to 1917) in Munich, Berlin, and Zurich. Although many of Ball’s Dada writings have been translated, including his diary, Flight Out of Time, and Dada Manifesto, his letters have yet to be translated into English. Ranging from Ball’s constant financial struggles to deep-seated conflicts with his mother, from chaotic artistic politics to humorous (pre)-Dada exchanges, these charming, puckish, and poignant letters offer a flesh-and-blood portrait of the Cubist-clad Dada-demigod in his most unsettled and productive period.