Translation

Literary translator from German into English of fiction, literary non-fiction and poetry.

Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019

Shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize 2022

Shortlisted for the Schlegel-Tieck Prize 2018

Twice nominated for the Dublin Literary Award (2021, 2020)

Judge for the Schlegel-Tieck Prize 2021 and the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators 2026, 2025, 2024 & 2021

I’ve translated over 20 book-length works of contemporary German-language fiction and literary non-fiction into English by authors including Marion Poschmann, Gregor Hens, Dorothee Elmiger, Michelle Steinbeck and Wim Wenders for publishers including Fitzcarraldo Editions, Faber Books, Granta Books, FSG, Serpent’s Tail, Scribe, Other Press, Peirene Press and Unnamed Press.

My translations have also appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, The White Review, Modern Poetry in Translation and Literary Hub, and have been commissioned by the European Union Prize for Literature, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Climate Fiction Festival Berlin, RCW Literary Agency, Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch and Verlag C. H. Beck.

Translator in Residence – British Centre for Literary Translation (2023). Translator in Residence – British Library/AHRC (2017-2019). Translator in Residence – Austrian Cultural Forum London (2015-2017). Invited participant – Literarisches Colloquium Berlin Translation Workshop for International Translators of Dorothee Elmiger (Leuk, Switzerland, June 2026). Awarded place and stipend – Cove Park Literature & Translation Residency (June 2021).

I also edit translations from German, and act as a literary consultant on German-language and translated literature for English PEN, Arts Council England, and various publishers and publications. I’m the former acting editor of New Books in German, former translations and reviews coordinator at 12 Swiss Books, and guest poetry editor at No Man’s Land. I’m also co-founding editor of Praspar Press, a micro-publisher of Maltese literature in English translation.

I’ve spoken about translation on the BBC World Service and at Edinburgh International Book Festival, Ledbury Poetry Festival, the British Library, Deutsches Haus at NYU, and elsewhere. I’ve written long-running columns on literature in translation for the Brixton Review of Books and The Quietus.

I regularly teach (2021-present) at the British Centre for Literary Translation Summer School (UEA) and was awarded a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from UEA for my thesis exploring hybrid life writing by literary translators about their practice.

My experimental memoir about being and becoming a literary translator, Fair: The Life-Art of Translation (Prototype, 2025), is out now (see Writing page).

Selected Translation