I’m a literary translator and languages teacher, working mainly with Arabic, German and Russian. I also co-translate literary texts from Ukrainian.
I translate fiction and nonfiction for English-language publishers worldwide including Penguin Random House, Pushkin Press, Comma Press, The History Press, Deep Vellum, Neem Tree Press, Oneworld, Restless Books, Amazon Crossing, Seagull Books and others.
I have a particular interest in history, historical fiction, literature by authors of colour and immigrant writers, queer literature, and works for children and young adults.
My translations include books from Germany, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Russia, Switzerland and Syria, including several award-winning or shortlisted translations.
I’m a passionate advocate of world literature for young people and diversity in children’s publishing and education.
I’m co-editor of ArabKidLitNow! and Russophone Kid Lit blogs, and I write about global reading for young people at World Kid Lit, Words Without Borders, and World Literature Today.
I also promote language learning and creative translation for young people through my workshops in schools, especially in September which is #WorldKidLitMonth and International Translation Day.
PUBLISHED TRANSLATIONS
Novels
Jackie Thomae, Brothers (DAS Editions, 2024)
Alida Bremer, Split (Amazon Crossing, 2024)
Yulia Yakovleva, Death of the Red Rider (Pushkin Vertigo, 2023)
Irena Brežná, The Thankless Foreigner (Seagull Books, 2022)
Yulia Yakovleva, Punishment of a Hunter (Pushkin Vertigo, 2021)
Ahlam Bsharat, Trees for the Absentees (co-translation 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)
Hanna Winter, Sacrifice (Manilla Books, 2016)
Fadi Zaghmout, The Bride of Amman (Signal 8 Press, 2015)
Short stories
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), also published as Banthology: Stories from Banned Nations, ed. Sarah Cleave and Deep Vellum, 2018)
in
Basma Abdel Aziz, ‘Bottled Up’ in Index on Censorship: Does anonymity need to be defended? (Index on Censorship, Autumn 2016)
Anis Arafai, ‘Minouche’ in The Common, Issue 11 Tajdeed: Contemporary Arabic Fiction, 2016
Non-fiction
Hanna Harms, Milk But No Honey (The History Press, 2024)
Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art (Penguin Classics, 2024)
Ijoma Mangold, The German Crocodile (DAS Editions, 2021)
David Nelles and Christian Serrer, Small Gases, Big Effect: This Is Climate Change (Particular Books, 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)
Peter Wohlleben, The Weather Detective: Rediscovering Nature’s Secret Signs (translated with help from Jessica West, Rider Books and Dutton Books, June 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
Olzhas Suleimenov, The Prehistory of the Turkic Speaking Peoples (co-translation with Ian Appleby; TEAS Press, 2016)
Samar Yazbek, The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria (co-translation 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)
Dimitry Morozov, Kitezh: a Community Approach to Raising Children in Russia (co-translation with Laura Casiraghi and Emily Justice; Eland, 2008)
Children’s Books
Christina Wolff, The Ghosts of Pandora Pickwick (Arctis, 2025)
Anna Anisimova and Yulia Sidneva, The Invisible Elephant (Restless Books, 2023)
Amina Hashimi Alawi and Gulnar Hajo, What Can I see? (Editora Trinta Zero Nove, 2022)
Amina Hashimi Alawi and Maya Fidawi, Alya and the Three Cats (Editora Trinta Zero Nove, 2022)
Katja Frixe, The Magical Bookshop, illustrated by Florentine Prechtel (OneWorld, 2021)
Roman Belyaev, How Do Bridges Work? (B Small, 2020)
Yulia Yakovleva, The Raven’s Children (Puffin, Penguin Random House, 2018) ~ The Times’ Children’s book of the week, July 2018 ~ BookTrust In Other Words honour title, 2017 ~ IBBY honour list 2022
Gulnar Hajo, Nour’s Escape (Darf Publishers, 2019)
Abir Ali and Gulnar Hajo, The Dot (Darf Publishers, 2019)
Ahlam Bsharat, Trees for the Absentees (co-translation with Sue Copeland, Neem Tree Press, 2019) ~ Shortlisted for the GLLI Translated YA Prize and for the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize (crossover YA/adult literary fiction)
Kathrin Rohmann, Apple Cake and Baklava (Darf Publishers, 2018)
Thomas Bärnthaler, Now Make This (co-translation with Jessica West, Phaidon, 2018)
For more information about me and my work, please see my website