How we translate – in conversation with Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin
9 October @ 14:30 - 15:15 BST

Grab a cuppa and get to know translators Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin. Charlotte and Ruth will be in conversation with SoA’s Translators Association Chair, Ian Giles to discuss their work and career, and to offer a glimpse into their creative routines.
#SoAatHome How I Write –in conversation events – free for all + donation
As of Feb 2025, our #SoAatHome How I Write- in conversation events will be free for all but with a donation option when registering for the event. All donations go towards the Society of Authors’ Access Fund. The fund provides authors with support for travel, subsistence, childcare or access needs for events, residencies, and retreats. If you would like to donate with your booking, please do so when registering for the event below.
Programme
- Welcome and housekeeping from Ian Giles (3 mins)
- Introduction to Ruth Martin and Charlotte Collins, and a glimpse into her creative routine (15-25 mins)
- Ruth Martin and Charlotte Collins will do a short reading from their translation of The Lack of Light by Nino Haratischwili (2-3 mins)
- Q&A with audience (10-15 mins)
- Summary and closing comments (3 mins)
- This event will be moderated by Catherine Fuller– Senior Contracts Advisor & Translators Association co-coordinator, SoA
Send us your questions
If you would like to send questions in advance, email CFuller@societyofauthors.org with ‘Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin – Question’ in the subject header. We will prioritise questions sent in advance and answer as many as we can from the audience on the day.
#SoAatHome Fundraising Bookshop
Browse our virtual Bookshop.org store featuring books by authors and speakers taking part in the #SoAatHome. When you make a purchase using our affiliate links, a percentage will go to the Society of Authors’ Access Fund, giving authors support for travel, subsistence, childcare or access needs for events, residencies, and retreats.
About the Translators Association
The Translators Association (TA) provides a source of expert advice for individual literary translators and is also a collective voice representing the profession as a whole. The TA is committed to the need for more openness and opportunities in publishing, more visibility of translators of colour and more proactive intervention to help dismantle the institutional barriers faced by early career translators.
The Line-up
Ruth Martin
Ruth Martin studied English literature before gaining a PhD in German. She has been translating fiction and non-fiction books since 2010, by authors ranging from Joseph Roth and Hannah Arendt to Volker Weidermann and Shida Bazyar. Together with Charlotte Collins, she won the 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, for Nino Haratischwili’s epic novel The Eighth Life. Ruth has taught at the University of Kent and the Bristol Translates summer school. She is a former co-chair of the Translators Association.
Bluesky: @dances-with-voles.bsky.social
Charlotte Collins
Charlotte Collins worked as an actor and radio journalist in Germany and the UK before becoming a literary translator. She was awarded the 2017 Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize for her translation of A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler. With Ruth Martin, she has co-translated two novels by Nino Haratischwili – The Eighth Life: for Brilka, which won the 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, and The Lack of Light – as well as Breaking News by Frank Schätzing, a three-way translation with Shaun Whiteside. Charlotte’s other work includes Bernhard Schlink’s The Granddaughter, Seethaler’s The Tobacconist, and Darkenbloom by Eva Menasse.
Bluesky: @cctranslates.bsky.social | X: @cctranslates
Ian Giles
Ian Giles is a translator of the Scandinavian languages into English and the current Chair of the Translators Association.
Bluesky: @iangiles.bsky.social | Instagram: @scandinavianist | LinkedIn: ianoagiles
Need to know
Accessibility
- Attendees will have the option to turn on the live transcript, to watch with subtitles.
- If you require BSL interpretation for this event, please email events@societyofauthors.org
Before the event
- Once registered, you will be sent a confirmation email with the Zoom link
- If the confirmation email doesn’t arrive in your inbox, please check your junk/spam email folder
- Please add events@societyofauthors.org to your Safe Senders list so you receive our confirmation and reminder emails
During the event
- This online event will take place on Zoom Webinar. You will not be on screen.
- This event is 45 minutes
After the event
- Hashtag for this event: #SoAatHome
- Attendees will be able to catch the recording on our Vimeo channel
Booking
Please either use the form titled ‘Register – no donation’ or the option of the different ticket options with a donation amount depending on how much you would like to donate towards the Society of Authors Access Fund.
Register - No Donation
Please use the booking form to register for this event.
Please email
events@societyofauthors.org if you have any questions.