Literary translation

24 May - 03 Jun 2025

Literary translator Júlia Sanches is participating in KEF's Atelier programme at Casa Mísia from 24 May to 2 June. The aim is to facilitate an encounter between the translator and the Portuguese writer Susana Moreira Marques, author of the non-fiction book Now and at the Hour of Our Death (Tinta da China, 2013), which was Júlia's first published translation in English. After more than a decade, Júlia returns to work on the translation of another of the author's works: Terceiro andar sem elevador (Companhia das Letras, 2024), a collection of notes on daily life in the city of Lisbon. During this atelier, Júlia will have the opportunity to revise her translation alongside the author and visit the locations that influenced her work.

Júlia, who translates works from Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan into English, has translated books by Luiz Ruffato, Geovani Martins, Munir Hachemi and Montserrat Roig, and has been nominated for the International Booker Prize for three consecutive years. Her translations of Boulder by Eva Baltasar and Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener were respectively shortlisted and longlisted in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, she was longlisted for her co-translation of Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda. She is a founding member of the translators' collective Cedilla & Co.

A graduate in English Literature and Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh, Júlia completed her Master's in Comparative Literature and Literary Translation at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. After working as an assistant and literary agent for several years at The Wylie Agency, representing authors from various parts of the world, Júlia decided to focus her energies on literary translation, advocating for authors she identifies with. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island.