International Translation Day: Lesser-known translators from around the world

The United Nations officially designated September 30 as International Translation Day in 2017, recognising the vital role language professionals play in promoting dialogue, understanding, cooperation, development and peace. The date was chosen because it marks the feast day of St Jerome, the Bible translator widely regarded as the patron saint of translators. (unsplash)

Rita Kothari: Indian scholar and translator Rita Kothari has played an important role in bringing Gujarati and Sindhi writing to English-language readers. Her translations include Joseph Macwan’s Dalit novel Angaliyat, published in English as The Stepchild, and Ila Mehta’s Vaad, translated as Fence. She has also written extensively about the cultural politics of translation and language identity. (wikipedia)

Anton Hur: Anton Hur has helped introduce contemporary Korean fiction to international readers through translations of authors including Bora Chung, Kyung-sook Shin, Hwang Sok-yong and Sang Young Park. His translation of Bora Chung’s Cursed Bunny was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, while his translation of Park’s Love in the Big City was also longlisted for the prize. Hur was notably the only translator longlisted twice in the 2022 International Booker cycle. (wikimedia commons)

Shanta Gokhale: Writer, journalist and theatre critic Shanta Gokhale has also been an important translator of Marathi literature. Her translation work has covered poetry, fiction and drama, helping make Marathi writing accessible to English-language readers. Her work as a translator sits alongside a long career in journalism, literary criticism and theatre. (wikimedia commons)

Humphrey Davies: British translator Humphrey Davies dedicated much of his later career to Arabic literature, translating around 30 book-length works. His translations included Elias Khoury’s Gate of the Sun, Alaa Al Aswany’s The Yacoubian Building and Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq’s monumental Leg Over Leg. He won the inaugural Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation in 2006 and won it again in 2010. (the american university in cairo press)

Marilyn Booth: Marilyn Booth is one of the major translators of modern Arabic fiction, although her name is often less familiar to general readers than those of the authors she translates. Her work includes Jokha Alharthi’s Celestial Bodies, which became the first novel by an Omani woman translated into English and won the 2019 International Booker Prize. Booth has spent decades translating literature from across the Arabic-speaking world. (the american university in cairo press)

Jason Grunebaum: American translator Jason Grunebaum has devoted much of his career to bringing Hindi literature to English readers. His translations include Uday Prakash’s The Girl with the Golden Parasol and The Walls of Delhi, as well as Manzoor Ahtesham’s The Tale of the Missing Man, translated with Ulrike Stark. He has received an NEA Literature Fellowship and a PEN/Heim Translation Grant and teaches Hindi and literary translation at the University of Chicago. (youtube: jaipur literature festival)