It's Lit in Translation

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

Welcome to It's Lit in Translation. The podcast that champions literature in translation and the people who make it possible.In today's episode, we were joined by Megan McDowell, a highly acclaimed American literary translator known for bringing contemporary Latin American and Spanish literature to English audiences. She is best known for translating the works of the most important Latin American writers working today, including Alejandro Zambra, Samanta Schweblin, and Mariana Enriquez. We spoke about her journey into literary translation and her 'non-traditional' route into publishing, which ultimately led her into translation. Megan shared how she began to work with the Spanish language, spent some time in Chile, and how her first translation gig came about. Diving into how her relationship with translation has changed since then, Megan sheds light on the alternative ways one can get started as a literary translator.Brenda Navarro’s Eating Ashes, published in 2025 by OneWorld, is her latest translation. We discussed the significance of not translating Spanish words in this translation as a signalling of isolation for the main character, alongside the symbolism behind the narrator's unnamed status. A novel that deals with racism and xenophobia that Latin American immigrants are exposed to within Europe, Megan highlights the importance of language to capture this experience. Megan also takes us through her translation process, in which translation transcends working from one language into another and becomes a transformative act that captures the emotions and sentiment of the original in another language. Lastly, we spoke about her role in translating the most important Latin American writers working today, from Alejandro Zambra and Samanta Schweblin to Mariana Enriquez, and how, for Megan, translation is never finished: there is never a 'right' or 'faithful' way to produce a text, when the craft itself is an ongoing conversation between writers, readers, cultures, literatures, and translators.-Eating Ashes by Brenda Navarro (published by OneWorld publications), translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell, is available to buy through 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: Megan McDowell