Author of MATISSE: THE BOOKS (Thames & Hudson / University of Chicago Press, 2020), an acclaimed study of the livres d’artiste of Henri Matisse.

Translator of 15 novels from French: Antoine Laurain, Serge Joncour, Gabrielle Wittkop, Laetitia Colombani, Louise Mey, Jean Rolin, Denis Thériault…

Drawing on my academic background in art history, I translate for leading French museums, galleries and cultural institutions. Clients past and present include the Louvre, the Centre Pompidou Paris a & Metz, the Venice and Lyon Biennales, the Villa Médicis, the Musée Marmottan Monet, Musée Rodin, the Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

As a former editor and writer for Condé Nast, Time Out Paris, IPC Magazines, Eyewitness Guides, BBC Enterprises and others, I also translate travel guides and transcreate marketing texts for major French luxury houses.

I hold an MPhil. in poetry translation and art history from the University of London Institute in Paris: “Dancing on ropes with fetter’d legs: the rewards and challenges of translating French livres d’artiste.”

I lead translation workshops (from French) to explore the connecting threads between my literary and ‘commercial’ translation practice, based on texts sampled as a snapshot of my most recent work. In 2022 and 2023, I led three days of online workshops with 12 students each at the Bristol Translates Summer School, with the University of Bristol.

When not translating, writing or teaching I can usually be found clearing my thoughts while engaged in mindful ironing, bed-making and towel-folding, in my other life as a holiday let landlady. I’m beyond thankful and proud to offer retreats in my old home town of Monmouth (Wye Valley, SE Wales) and at my home base in France, on the edge of Fontainebleau forest. Fellow wordsmiths are warmly invited to arrange creative retreats in either setting.