Languages

I translate into English from Arabic, German and Russian. My published and forthcoming translations are listed below by source language.

From Arabic

Books

• Amina Hashimi Alawi and Gulnar Hajo, What Can I see? (Editora Trinta Zero Nove, 2023)
• Amina Hashimi Alawi and Maya Fidawi, Alya and the Three Cats (Editora Trinta Zero Nove, 2023)
• Ahlam Bsharat, Trees for the Absentees (translated with Sue Copeland, Neem Tree Press, 2019) ~ Shortlisted for the GLLI Translated YA Prize 2020 and for the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize 2020 (crossover YA/adult literary fiction)
• Gulnar Hajo, Nour’s Escape (Darf Publishers, 2019)
• Abir Ali and Gulnar Hajo, The Dot (Darf Publishers, 2019)
• Samar Yazbek, The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria (translated with Nashwa Gowanlock; Rider Books, 2015) ~ One of The Independent’s 7 Best Translated Books by Women ~ ‘Powerful and moving … one of the first political classics of the 21st century’ (Observer)
• Fadi Zaghmout, The Bride of Amman (Signal 8 Press, 2015)

Short stories and sample chapters

• Eman Abdel Rahim, ‘Two Sisters’ in The Book of Cairo, ed. Raph Cormack (Comma Press, 2019)
• Basma Abdel Aziz, ‘Bottled-Up Messages’ in Sunspot Jungle: The Ever Expanding Universe of Fantasy and Science Fiction, ed. Bill Campbell (Rosarium Publishing, 2019)
• Rania Mamoun, ‘Bird of Paradise’ in Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations, ed. Sarah Cleave (Comma Press, 2018)
• Abbad Yahya, excerpt of Crime in Ramallah (Words Without Borders, Divided Countries issue, 2017)
• Basma Abdel Aziz, ‘Bottled Up’ in Index on Censorship: Does anonymity need to be defended? (2016)
• Anis Arafai, ‘Minouche’ in The Common, Issue 11 Tajdeed: Contemporary Arabic Fiction (2016)
• Habib Abdulrab Sarori, excerpt of The Daughter of Suslov (Banipal 52, 2015)
• Mustafa Khalife,  two excerpts of The Shell (The Massachusetts Review: Mediterranean edition, 2014)
• Laila al-Othman, The Abaya of al-Kadhim (Banipal 47, 2013)
• Ezzedine Choukri Fishere, excerpt of Abu Omar the Egyptian (First Lines journal vol 2, 2013, available on request)
• Ibrahim Eissa, excerpt of Our Master (The Televangelist) in Banipal 46, 2013, and the International Prize for Arabic Fiction shortlisted authors brochure (2013)
• Mohammed Hasan Alwan, excerpt of The Beaver in Banipal (co-translation, 2012)

Essays

• Samar Yazbek, ‘Divisions or unity? Art and the reality behind the stereotype’ in Life is Elsewhere: Journeys Through World Literature (Pushkin Press, November 2015)
• Samar Yazbek, ‘The turmoil of today’s world: leading writers respond to the refugee crisis’ (The Guardian, 2015)
• Khalid al-Maaly, ‘Interview with poet and publisher Khalid al-Maaly’ in Art and Thought/Fikrun wa Fann magazine, vol. 103 ‘On Literature‘, page 62, print edition only (2015)
• Ziad Abdullah, ‘Edward Said: The late author was just in time’ in The New Arab, 2015
• Samar Yazbek, ‘The novelist vs. the revolutionary: my own Syrian debate‘ in The Washington Post, 2013
• Samar Yazbek, ‘I write with blind eyes and forty fingers‘ (Index on Censorship, 2013)

Plays and film scripts

• Lucien Bourjeily, For Your Eyes Only, Sir/Knife Edge (extract in Index on Censorship, spring 2015, vol. 44)
• Mudar al Haggi, When Farah Cries (joint translation from Arabic with Nashwa Gowanlock), in Another Europe: the Book, published by the European Cultural Foundation
• Lucien Bourjeily, Will it pass or not?(extracts, Index on Censorship, December 2013 vol. 42, 4 pp. 134-148)
• Casting, a screenplay by Palestinian directors Tarzan and Arab
• Jamila Jad, a documentary about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon by Global Lives Project (English subtitles)

From German

Books

• Jackie Thomae, Brothers (forthcoming from DAS Editions, 2023)
• Alida Bremer, Split (forthcoming from Amazon Crossing, 2023)
• Wassily Kandinsky, On the Spiritual in Art (forthcoming from Penguin Classics, 2023)
• Irena Brežná, The Thankless Foreigner (Seagull Books, 2022)
• Ijoma Mangold, The German Crocodile (DAS Editions, 2021)
• David Nelles and Christian Serrer, Small Gases, Big Effect: This Is Climate Change (Particular Books, 2021)
• Katja Frixe, The Magical Bookshop (Oneworld, 2021)
• Ute Daenschel and Kerstin Lücker, A History of the World with the Women Put Back In (co-translation with Jessica West, The History Press, 2019) ~ crossover YA/adult literary fiction
• Heike Faller and Valerio Vidali, Hundred: What You Learn in a Lifetime (co-translation with Günther Krumminga, Particular Books, 2019)
• Peter Wohlleben, Walks in the Wild (Rider Books, 2019)
• Kathrin Rohmann, Apple Cake and Baklava (Darf, 2018)
• Thomas Bärnthaler, Now Make This (co-translation with Jessica West, Phaidon, 2018)
• Peter Wohlleben, The Weather Detective: Rediscovering Nature’s Secret Signs (translated with Jessica West, Rider Books and Dutton Books, 2018)
• Ulrich Raulff, Farewell to the Horse: The Final Century of Our Relationship (Allen Lane, Penguin Random House, 2017) ~ THE SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 ~ BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, May 2017 ~ Shortlisted for 2019 Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize
• Hanna Winter, Sacrifice (Manilla Books, 2016)

Extracts, essays and sample chapters

• ‘Watching the Fall of the Berlin Wall’: short texts by Thomas Brussig, Kathrin Schmidt and David Wagner (The Guardian Review, 2019)
• Nino Haratischwilli, excerpt of My Gentle Twin in New Books in German (co-translation, 2013)
• Irena Brežná, excerpt of The Thankless Stranger in New Books in German (2012)
• Ursula Timea Rossel, excerpt of Take Silver and Garlic, Add Soil and Salt in New Books in German, 2012)
• Sascha Feuchert and Charlotte Knobloch, ‘Should Hitler’s Mein Kampf be republished?’ Index on Censorship 3/2014, and Eurozine 2014
• Thomas Rothschild, ‘The new divide‘ in Index on Censorship, 2014
• Judith Nahrwold, A letter from Istanbul (1), (2) and (3) (Everyday Rebellion, 2013)

From Russian

Books

• Yulia Yakovleva, Death of the Red Rider (forthcoming from Pushkin Vertigo, 2023)
• Anna Anisimova and Yulia Sidneva, The Invisible Elephant (forthcoming from Restless Books, 2023)
• Yulia Yakovleva, Punishment of a Hunter (Pushkin Vertigo, 2021)
• Roman Belyaev, How Do Bridges Work? (B Small, 2020)
• Yulia Yakovleva, The Raven’s Children (Puffin Books, 2018) ~ The Times’ Children’s book of the week, July 2018 ~ BookTrust In Other Words honour title, 2017
• Olzhas Suleimenov, The Prehistory of the Turkic Speaking Peoples (translated with Ian Appleby; TEAS Press, 2016)
• Dimitry Morozov, Kitezh: a Community Approach to Raising Children in Russia (co-translation with Laura Casiraghi and Emily Justice; Eland, 2008)

Plays and film scripts

• Ilya Chlaki, In the Park (joint translation from Russian with Francisca Everduim) – performed by [Foreign Affairs] theatre company, London, August 2014
• A Farewell to Arms: From Belfast to the Balkans, documentary by Armenian director Levon Kalantar

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I am also a life-long language learner and I have studied several other Romance, Germanic, Semitic and Slavic languages, keeping them up mainly through reading and listening to podcasts, and travel when possible. I have a good level of reading ability in French, Italian, Maltese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Ukrainian.