Ruth Martin
@dances-with-voles.bsky.social
German to English translator and general book botherer (she/her)
TIL that Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch was the inspiration for Ratty in The Wind In The Willows. He did a lot of messing about in boats around Fowey.
November 24, 2025 at 10:47 PM
TIL that Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch was the inspiration for Ratty in The Wind In The Willows. He did a lot of messing about in boats around Fowey.
Reposted by Ruth Martin
Extreme nerd request! #HistSky #HistorySky #BookSky I'm looking for non-fiction (or contemporaneous fiction) on bureaucratic changes that followed the end of the Austto-Hungarian empire. Like, how did newly independent countries set up state functions in new languages w/in newly defined borders?
November 21, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Extreme nerd request! #HistSky #HistorySky #BookSky I'm looking for non-fiction (or contemporaneous fiction) on bureaucratic changes that followed the end of the Austto-Hungarian empire. Like, how did newly independent countries set up state functions in new languages w/in newly defined borders?
Just took my glasses off to fish something out of my eye and then had to put on an old pair of glasses from a drawer in order to find where I'd put the original ones. I should not be left unsupervised.
November 20, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Just took my glasses off to fish something out of my eye and then had to put on an old pair of glasses from a drawer in order to find where I'd put the original ones. I should not be left unsupervised.
Nominations for the 2026 Dublin Literary Award include BLURRED by Iris Wolff, alongside a lot of other very very good books: www.dublincityofliterature.ie/news/2026-du...
2026 Dublin Literary Award Nominated Titles | Dublin UNESCO City of literature
Dublin is known worldwide for its writers, poets and playwrights, a place with a rich literary past and a vibrant literary present.
www.dublincityofliterature.ie
November 19, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Nominations for the 2026 Dublin Literary Award include BLURRED by Iris Wolff, alongside a lot of other very very good books: www.dublincityofliterature.ie/news/2026-du...
The wooden skeleton permanently affixed to a neighbour's side gate is wearing its crocheted poppy again. No "lest we forget" sash and beret this year though, which is disappointing
#TodayInTheBay
#TodayInTheBay
November 7, 2025 at 9:16 AM
The wooden skeleton permanently affixed to a neighbour's side gate is wearing its crocheted poppy again. No "lest we forget" sash and beret this year though, which is disappointing
#TodayInTheBay
#TodayInTheBay
A scene from just now to counter last night's shenanigans: low tide, dark clouds, detectorists out on the mud with the gulls and oystercatchers. For a minute, the sun breaks through to create the improbable image of a bloke digging for metal near the end of a rainbow. #TodayInTheBay
October 31, 2025 at 2:13 PM
A scene from just now to counter last night's shenanigans: low tide, dark clouds, detectorists out on the mud with the gulls and oystercatchers. For a minute, the sun breaks through to create the improbable image of a bloke digging for metal near the end of a rainbow. #TodayInTheBay
This evening I was planning to go out and do some anti-racist protesting then come home for a pasta bake - but three hours later we were being kettled for our own safety while the Flag People threw eggs at us. It's a bit scary out there.
October 30, 2025 at 9:17 PM
This evening I was planning to go out and do some anti-racist protesting then come home for a pasta bake - but three hours later we were being kettled for our own safety while the Flag People threw eggs at us. It's a bit scary out there.
Reposted by Ruth Martin
Announcing the longlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2025! Featuring 10 languages, 12 publishers, 4 collections of poetry - and much more. The longlist travels from Argentina to South Korea, from Haiti to Romania, from Sweden to Slovenia.
tinyurl.com/4cu8sdv9
tinyurl.com/4cu8sdv9
October 24, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Announcing the longlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2025! Featuring 10 languages, 12 publishers, 4 collections of poetry - and much more. The longlist travels from Argentina to South Korea, from Haiti to Romania, from Sweden to Slovenia.
tinyurl.com/4cu8sdv9
tinyurl.com/4cu8sdv9
Stayed here for our wedding anniversary a few years ago. The weather was foul, the landlady was very grumpy, it was the perfect Dartmoor experience.
Within the Oxenham Arms in the village of South Zeal, Devon is
The ‘Roman Pillar' propping up the roof in the restaurant at the rear of the pub.
In the next room is an enormous Menhir built into the fabric of the wall too. One pub - two standing stones.
The ‘Roman Pillar' propping up the roof in the restaurant at the rear of the pub.
In the next room is an enormous Menhir built into the fabric of the wall too. One pub - two standing stones.
October 24, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Stayed here for our wedding anniversary a few years ago. The weather was foul, the landlady was very grumpy, it was the perfect Dartmoor experience.
Dear AI book-marketing spammer,
You're right, The Coral Merchant does deserve more readers - but I regret to inform you that Mr Roth has been dead since 1939 and is unlikely to respond to your cheery, "Hi Joseph!"
At least this one made me laugh.
You're right, The Coral Merchant does deserve more readers - but I regret to inform you that Mr Roth has been dead since 1939 and is unlikely to respond to your cheery, "Hi Joseph!"
At least this one made me laugh.
October 8, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Dear AI book-marketing spammer,
You're right, The Coral Merchant does deserve more readers - but I regret to inform you that Mr Roth has been dead since 1939 and is unlikely to respond to your cheery, "Hi Joseph!"
At least this one made me laugh.
You're right, The Coral Merchant does deserve more readers - but I regret to inform you that Mr Roth has been dead since 1939 and is unlikely to respond to your cheery, "Hi Joseph!"
At least this one made me laugh.
Retranslation dilemma: several existing translations of a text from 1894 ask, "Is man a spiritually free being?" (The latest, from 1986, adds a translator's footnote saying sorry about the "man" thing, we don't have a gender-neutral option in English, try to ignore it). 1/2
October 8, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Retranslation dilemma: several existing translations of a text from 1894 ask, "Is man a spiritually free being?" (The latest, from 1986, adds a translator's footnote saying sorry about the "man" thing, we don't have a gender-neutral option in English, try to ignore it). 1/2
Reposted by Ruth Martin
Next Thurs, I'll be talking to co-translators @cctranslates.bsky.social and @dances-with-voles.bsky.social as part of the @societyofauthors.bsky.social #SoAatHome events. We'll be talking translation & celebrating the release of their co-translation of Nino Haratischwili's "The Lack of Light".
October 1, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Next Thurs, I'll be talking to co-translators @cctranslates.bsky.social and @dances-with-voles.bsky.social as part of the @societyofauthors.bsky.social #SoAatHome events. We'll be talking translation & celebrating the release of their co-translation of Nino Haratischwili's "The Lack of Light".
Quiet reading evening at the bookshop. Tea, snacks, comfy chairs, bit of a chat afterwards about what we're reading and life in general. More of this sort of thing!
September 25, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Quiet reading evening at the bookshop. Tea, snacks, comfy chairs, bit of a chat afterwards about what we're reading and life in general. More of this sort of thing!
Great review of BLURRED in the TLS! www.the-tls.com/literature/f...
Borrow, but don’t return
Even though she was born and raised in Romania, the Nobel laureate Herta Müller learnt the national language only when she was fifteen, after she moved to
www.the-tls.com
September 20, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Great review of BLURRED in the TLS! www.the-tls.com/literature/f...
The care home where my mum lives has the most alarming image when you look it up on Google maps. It's from when the animal man came in, but it really requires some context
September 12, 2025 at 9:21 AM
The care home where my mum lives has the most alarming image when you look it up on Google maps. It's from when the animal man came in, but it really requires some context
More Iris Wolff... this time brilliantly interviewed (in English) by Georgina Godwin on Monocle Radio monocle.com/radio/shows/...
Iris Wolff on weaving memory into words - Monocle
Georgina Godwin is joined by Iris Wolff to discuss her childhood in Romania, emigrating to Germany in the 1980s and...
monocle.com
September 11, 2025 at 9:32 AM
More Iris Wolff... this time brilliantly interviewed (in English) by Georgina Godwin on Monocle Radio monocle.com/radio/shows/...
A lovely review of Iris Wolff's BLURRED, among other things, in @john-self.bsky.social 's latest roundup of translated fiction: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
The best recent translated fiction – review roundup
Discontent by Beatriz Serrano; Hunter by Shuang Xuetao; Blurred by Iris Wolff; Cooking in the Wrong Century by Teresa Präauer
www.theguardian.com
August 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
A lovely review of Iris Wolff's BLURRED, among other things, in @john-self.bsky.social 's latest roundup of translated fiction: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
Reposted by Ruth Martin
British-born writer Jacinta Nandi is one of 20 authors long-listed for this year's German Book Prize for her novel 'Single Mom Supper Club'.
The German Book Prize will be presented on 13 October.
More on the long-listed books: www.new-books-in-german.com/german-book-...
The German Book Prize will be presented on 13 October.
More on the long-listed books: www.new-books-in-german.com/german-book-...
August 27, 2025 at 10:42 AM
British-born writer Jacinta Nandi is one of 20 authors long-listed for this year's German Book Prize for her novel 'Single Mom Supper Club'.
The German Book Prize will be presented on 13 October.
More on the long-listed books: www.new-books-in-german.com/german-book-...
The German Book Prize will be presented on 13 October.
More on the long-listed books: www.new-books-in-german.com/german-book-...
If only there weren't so many rhyming poems in this translation. If only I had read the whole thing rather than just the first ten pages before agreeing to it.
You might think well, you live and learn, but this is *not the first time I have been in this situation*. Idiot.
You might think well, you live and learn, but this is *not the first time I have been in this situation*. Idiot.
August 26, 2025 at 10:56 AM
If only there weren't so many rhyming poems in this translation. If only I had read the whole thing rather than just the first ten pages before agreeing to it.
You might think well, you live and learn, but this is *not the first time I have been in this situation*. Idiot.
You might think well, you live and learn, but this is *not the first time I have been in this situation*. Idiot.
Kent people! I'll be talking about translation at Herne Bay's fabulous Little Green Bookshop on 30 Sept (International Translation Day) - join me... www.thelittlegreenbookshop.com/event-detail...
The Craft of Literary Translation with Ruth Martin | LittleGreenBookshop
Don't miss out on this fascinating evening on the art of translation!
www.thelittlegreenbookshop.com
August 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Kent people! I'll be talking about translation at Herne Bay's fabulous Little Green Bookshop on 30 Sept (International Translation Day) - join me... www.thelittlegreenbookshop.com/event-detail...
Reposted by Ruth Martin
This was my first book read for #WomeninTranslation month 2025-an excellent, moving, family novel set in Iran and Germany, told in different voices: peakreads.wordpress.com/2025/08/08/t...
The Nights are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar translated by Ruth Martin.
In February 2024 I attended a book launch at London’s Goethe Institut where Shida Bazyar and her translator, Ruth Martin, presented her debut novel Sisters in Arms. I really enjoyed this book and w…
peakreads.wordpress.com
August 8, 2025 at 6:04 AM
This was my first book read for #WomeninTranslation month 2025-an excellent, moving, family novel set in Iran and Germany, told in different voices: peakreads.wordpress.com/2025/08/08/t...
Back in Boppard am Rhein (Truro's twin town) for the first time since the school German exchange in 1993. It's delightful, and all the better for not having spent 2 days travelling from Cornwall by coach.
July 30, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Back in Boppard am Rhein (Truro's twin town) for the first time since the school German exchange in 1993. It's delightful, and all the better for not having spent 2 days travelling from Cornwall by coach.
Our attempt to take books to the Oxfam shop was just thwarted by a huge thunderstorm - though I did give away one novel to the Dutch family sheltering with us in a slowly flooding multistorey carpark (Dorst by Esther Gerritsen). Weird afternoon.
July 21, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Our attempt to take books to the Oxfam shop was just thwarted by a huge thunderstorm - though I did give away one novel to the Dutch family sheltering with us in a slowly flooding multistorey carpark (Dorst by Esther Gerritsen). Weird afternoon.
Reposted by Ruth Martin
Writers! Note that AI translation (under the guise of "global access") is being seen/used as the weak point to get AI into publishing (possible bc Eng lang publishing is weak on translation). Stand with translators & for more human translation, fairly paid!
The founders of independent publisher Bloodhound Books have launched a new AI fiction translation service, Globescribe.ai 👇 #BookSky
Bloodhound Books founders launch AI fiction translation company
ebx.sh
July 7, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Writers! Note that AI translation (under the guise of "global access") is being seen/used as the weak point to get AI into publishing (possible bc Eng lang publishing is weak on translation). Stand with translators & for more human translation, fairly paid!
Reposted by Ruth Martin
Send a message to Kent County Council that you believe Trans+ books are not a danger to children and should be available in public libraries.
Sign the open letter ✍️ 👇
Sign the open letter ✍️ 👇
An Open Letter to Kent County Council regarding the removal of trans books from libraries
This letter calls on Kent County Council to reverse its harmful decision to remove transgender-inclusive books from the children’s section of public libraries.
We encourage everyone to sign this lette...
docs.google.com
July 4, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Send a message to Kent County Council that you believe Trans+ books are not a danger to children and should be available in public libraries.
Sign the open letter ✍️ 👇
Sign the open letter ✍️ 👇