Ruth Martin on voyaging through books, finding community, and being shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize

Welcome to It's Lit in Translation. The podcast that champions literature in translation and the people who make it possible. This year, in collaboration with the International Booker Prize, I've had the privilege of interviewing the shortlisted panel of translators ahead of the Prize announcement. In today's episode, prolific literary translator from German, Ruth Martin, joins the pod to discuss her translation of the IBP-shortlisted novel, The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar. Taking us through her journey into literary translation, having fallen in love with German during secondary school, and later on, pursuing a PhD in German literature, Ruth shares about her relationship with language and the possibility of reading in other languages as the driving force towards pursuing German. We also learn about her translation process for the IBP-shortlisted novel, The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran, and what enticed her to translate this work. We learn about Ruth's very immersive translation process, in which she cooked, listened to music, and thoroughly researched to immerse herself in the novel's Iranian-German setting. It is absolutely fascinating to hear Ruth discuss her translation process and to learn about the many steps that took place for us to access this novel in English. Consider this episode "the longest Translator's note ever!" -You can purchase a copy of The Nights are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar (published by Scribe UK) and translated by Ruth Martin from German, here: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/it-s-lit-in-translation- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/el-depravo/tarnished-rosePhoto Credit: Michael Jershov