Ruth Martin studied English literature before gaining a PhD in German. She has been translating fiction and nonfiction books since 2010, by authors ranging from Joseph Roth to Angela Merkel. Together with Charlotte Collins, she won the 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, for Nino Haratischwili’s epic novel The Eighth Life. Her translation of Shida Bazyar’s The Nights are Quiet in Tehran was shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize. Ruth has taught at the University of Kent and the Bristol Translates summer school, and is currently a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge.

Image credit: Cemanthe McKenzie
Ruth Martin
Biography
Awards
- Shortlisted for the 2026 The International Booker Prize
- Winner of the 2015 Literature Prize of the Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy
- Winner of the 2015 Anna Seghers Prize
- Longlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize
- Winner of the 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation
- Longlisted for the 2021 Dublin Literary Award





