Antonella Lettieri translates literature,¹ non-fiction, articles, and academic writing between English and Italian. She also translates websites, contracts, one-liners, subtitles, marketing blurbs, wedding vows, instruction manuals, blogs, adverts, scripts, and anything at all really.² On top of that, she reads, writes, and consults³ on all things literature.
Antonella is a London-based translator with over ten years of experience working into English and Italian. She was the 2023 NCW Emerging Translator Mentee for Italian and was awarded first prize in the 2023 John Dryden Translation and the 2024 PEN/Heim Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature. Her translation of Maria Grazia Calandrone’s Your Little Matter is out now.
¹ Literature is what brought me to translation in the first place: the epiphany that so many stories were available to me only because someone had translated them. Since then, literary translation has been my aspiration. I was chosen as the 2023 National Centre for Writing Emerging Translator Mentee for Italian and, in 2024, I was awarded the PEN/Heim Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature. My translation of Maria Grazia Calandrone’s Your Little Matter is out now with Foundry Editions. I also have a book or two that I am pitching – including the book with which I won first prize in the John Dryden Translation Competition – and I would love to tell you all about them. If you are curious to know what I am working on, you can also read samples of my work on Asymptote (here and here) and La Piccioletta Barca. Or maybe you have a book you are just burning to get out there? Get in touch to talk through the details.
² That said, I am not new to translation: as an academic, editorial, and commercial translator, over the last thirteen years I have been providing high-quality and accurate translation and proofreading services to large and small businesses, both directly and through agencies. I am flexible, I always keep to my deadlines, and I am comfortable juggling multiple projects. I know my way around CAT tools, translation memories, and glossaries. Hit me up if this sounds like just the set of skills you are looking for.
³ I also work as a reader and consultant for publishers, agents, and literary scouts. I am available to read the most promising new titles or anything that has caught your eye, tell you if it’s worth your time, write reader’s reports, produce sample translations, create articles and blog posts, liaise with literary agents and publishers, and advise on promotion strategies. Do you have a book you are struggling to make sense of? Shoot me an email and we can talk about it!