Ecre Karadag

  • she/her
Literary translator from Japanese
My website
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Translator
Available for:
Collaboration, Editing, Festivals and other events, 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 Japanese–English literary translator and publishing professional based in London.

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, and an MA in Japanese Studies from Sophia University, Tokyo.

While studying in Tokyo, she was Head of Editorial and Rights at The COMM, a multilingual Japanese street fashion magazine recognised in Vogue, i-D, Glamour and the 2020 British Fashion Awards. Alongside her translation work, she is Marketing and Communications Manager at the Poetry Translation Centre, and runs a weekly poetry group at a London community centre.

She was the 2024–25 Japanese mentee for the National Centre for Writing’s Emerging Translator Mentorship (mentored by Polly Barton), and is a National Centre for Writing Translator-in-Residence (Mar–Jun 2026). She is currently working on multiple book-length translations, including Mari the Unwonderful Witch by Asako Yuzuki (Penguin Random House Children’s UK, 2026).

 

Publications

Forthcoming

  • Mari the Unwonderful Witch by Asako Yuzuki (Penguin Random House Children’s UK, 2026)
  • TBA (Pushkin Press, 2027)

Published

  • Encounters Complete: I-IV by T.T. Tanaka (Mitsubachi Bunko, 2025), co-translated with Yukiko Tahara
  • Encounters 12: But Beautiful by T.T. Tanaka (Mitsubachi Bunko, 2024), co-translated with Yukiko Tahara
  • Encounters 11: Together in Four Seasons by T.T. Tanaka (Mitsubachi Bunko, 2023), co-translated with Yukiko Tahara

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)