Ecre Karadag

  • she/her
Literary translator from Japanese
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Translator
Available for:
Collaboration, Editing, Festivals and other events, Judging, Library visits, Live readings and performances, Media, Mentoring, Proofreading, Public speaking, Reader reports, Residencies, School visits, Translation, Workshops
Translates from:
Japanese
Translates to:
English
Available for (translation):
Children's books, Fantasy, Literary fiction, Poetry, Voice-driven fiction, YA books
Contact me via the SoA

Ecre Karadag (edge-reh karada) is a London-based literary translator working from Japanese into English, with a particular interest in children’s and young adult fiction. Her translations include Asako Yuzuki’s Mari the Unwonderful Witch (Penguin Random House Children’s UK, 2026), with a literary novella by Aki Asahina forthcoming from Pushkin Press.

Born and raised between the north of England and the United States, she holds an MA in Translation and a BA in Japanese and Linguistics from SOAS, University of London, as well as an MA in Japanese Studies from Sophia University, Tokyo.

Her wider publishing experience includes serving as Marketing and Communications Manager at the Poetry Translation Centre. While studying in Tokyo, she was Head of Editorial and Rights at The COMM, a multilingual Japanese street-fashion magazine highlighted by Vogue, i-D and Glamour, and featured at the 2020 Fashion Awards.

Ecre was mentored by Polly Barton through the National Centre for Writing’s 2024–25 Emerging Translator Mentorship and subsequently served as an NCW Translator-in-Residence in 2026.

 

Literary translations

  • Mari the Unwonderful Witch by Asako Yuzuki (Penguin Random House Children’s UK, 2026)
  • Title TBC by Aki Asahina (Pushkin Press, 2027)
  • Untitled sequel to Mari the Unwonderful Witch by Asako Yuzuki (Penguin Random House Children’s UK, 2028)

Residencies & events

  • National Centre for Writing, Translator-in-Residence (Mar–Jun 2026)
  • National Centre for Writing, Industry Insights for Novelists panel: Making a Career in Writing (2026)
  • London Book Fair, Getting Out of the Margins: Five Years of #TranslatorsOnTheCover (2026)
  • pensive.podcast, How to Break into Publishing and Literary Translation (2025)

Mentorship & training

  • National Centre for Writing, Emerging Translators Mentorship (2024–25), mentored by Polly Barton
  • BCLT Summer School, Multilingual Prose (2025), tutored by Nashwa Nasreldin

Education

  • MA Japanese Studies, Sophia University, Tokyo (2018-19)
  • MA Translation, SOAS, University of London (2017-18)
  • BA Japanese and Linguistics, SOAS, University of London (2013-17)