Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is a literary translator working from Arabic, Russian and German into English.
She translates fiction and nonfiction, and has a particular interest in children’s books and YA. Her translations include books from Germany, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Russia, Switzerland and Syria. See her full publications list here.
Ruth is co-editor of 3 blogs about translation and children’s literature: World Kid Lit, ArabKidLitNow! and Russian Kid Lit.
Ruth leads translation workshops in schools and promotes world literature for young people, especially in September, #WorldKidLitMonth.
Degrees
- MA in Translation and Interpreting (University of Bath, 2006)
- MA Oxon Modern and Medieval Languages (University of Oxford, 2003)
- CIOL Diploma in Translation: from Arabic (2013), from German and Russian (2004)
Accolades
- English PEN ‘PEN Translates’ Award for The German Crocodile and Punishment of a Hunter (2020)
- English PEN ‘PEN Translates’ Award for A History of the World with the Women Put Back In (2019)
- Shortlisted for the GLLI Translated YA Prize (2020)
- Shortlisted for the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for literary translation from Arabic (2020)
- Shortlisted for the Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize (2019)
- Shortlisted for The Arts Foundation fellowship in literary translation (2016)
Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp 