Ros Schwartz


Ros Schwartz is an English literary translator, who translates Francophone literature into English. In 2009 she was awarded the Chevalier d’Honneur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her services to French literature.

Career

Alongside literary translation, Schwartz has served on the boards and committees of various literary and translation organisations: Vice-Chair of the Translators Association; Chair of the European Council of Literary Translators Associations from 2000 to 2009; Chair of the Advisory Panel to the British Centre for Literary Translation from 2005 to 2009; and Chair of English PEN's Writers in Translation Programme from 2010 to 2014. She has worked to develop literary translation as a profession by supporting young translators, initiating mentoring schemes, summer schools, workshops and masterclasses.
Schwartz has also written about literary translation: see, for example, "A Dialogue: On a Translator's Interventions", by Ros Schwartz and Nicholas de Lange, in Susan Bassnett and Peter Bush, The Translator as Writer, and articles published in The Linguist, the ATA Bulletin, The ITI Bulletin, Context, and the British Council literary translation website. She is a regular contributor to In Other Words, the journal of the Translators Association and the British Centre for Literary Translation.
She was also a consultant on the revised Robert and Collins French-English/English-French Dictionary; a judge for the Larousse "Grand Prix de la Traduction", Paris, 1995; and a judge for the Aurora Borealis Prize of the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs 1999.

Honours and Prizes

Translations from French

Schwartz has translated numerous French and Francophone authors including Catherine Clément, Georges Simenon, Régine Deforges,, Dominique Manotti, Claudine Vegh, Emmanuel Raynaud, Aziz Chouaki, Fatou Diome, Yasmina Khadra, Julien Neel, Jacqueline Harpmann, Olivier Roy, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. She recently produced new translations of classic favourites, such as Le Petit Prince and has been part of the international team re-translating the novels of Georges Simenon into English.

Translations: fiction

The Blue Bicycle, Régine Deforges 101 Avenue Henri Martin, Régine Deforges The Devil is still laughing, Régine Deforges Resting in Peace, Marta Caraion – short storyBlack Docker, Ousmane Sembène – novelThe Net, Ilie Nastase – novelDesperate Spring, Fettouma Touati – novelReturn to Beirut, Andrée Chedid – novelI Who Have Never Known Men, Jacqueline Harpman – novelThe Passion of Women, Sébastien Japrisot

Translations: drama

  • A Little Grain of Sand, by Christophe Allwright – performed New Orleans 2002 and White Bear Theatre, London, 2004
  • In Spitting Distance, by Taher Najib, based on the French translation from the Hebrew by Jacqueline Carnaud – selected for the 2012 HotInk festival in New York
  • ''A Play: The Mating Game''

Translations: children's books

Translations: crime fiction

  • Dead Horsemeat, Dominque Manotti – Shortlisted for the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger Award 2006
  • Paris Noir
  • Lorraine Connection, Dominque Manotti – Winner of the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger Award 2008
  • Affairs of State, Dominique Manotti
  • Escape, Dominique Manotti
  • 15 Maigret titles by Georges Simenon for the new Penguin Classics Simenon series:
  • *The Shadow Puppet
  • *Maigret Gets Angry
  • *Maigret
  • *The Madman of Bergerac
  • *Maigret`s First Case
  • *Maigret`s Holiday
  • *Maigret and the Old Lady
  • *Maigret is Afraid
  • *Maigret and the Minister
  • *Maigret in Court
  • *Maigret and the Ghost
  • *Maigret and the Good People of Montparnasse
  • *Maigret in Vichy
  • *Maigret and Monsieur Charles
  • *Maigret and the Wine Merchant Betty, Georges Simenon, 2021

Translations: graphic albums

  • Lou, albums 1, 2, 3, Julien Neel – teenage graphic albums
  • Lou, albums 4 and 5, Julien Neel – teenage graphic albums
  • *Lou! Dairy Dates
  • *Lou! Summertime Blues
  • *Lou! Down in the Dump
  • *Lou! Romances
  • *''Lou! Laser Ninja''

Translations: poetry

Translations: non-fiction

  • Holy Virility, Emmanuel Raynaud – Sociology/history
  • I Didn’t Say Goodbye, Claudine Vegh – Interviews with Holocaust survivors
  • Cuisine Extraordinaire
  • The Reformation, ed. Pierre Chaunu – history
  • The Book of Inventions and Discoveries
  • Women in Evidence, Sébastien Japrisot
  • Dining with Proust, Anne Borel, Alain Senderens
  • The Gallimard Guidebook Series: Amsterdam, Vienna
  • Russian Art Collectors, Christina Burrus
  • Allah O Akbar, Abbas
  • A History of Scientific Thought, Michel Serres
  • Pushing back the Horizons
  • Skopelos, a brief study of vernacular architecture, Marc Held
  • Nature, Artifice and Japanese Culture, Augustin Berque
  • The Mistress of Silence, Jacqueline Harpman
  • Orlanda, Jacqueline Harpman
  • Theo’s Odyssey, Catherine Clément
  • Visitor’s Guide to the Paris Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme
  • La Prisonnière by Malika Oufkir and Michèle Fitoussi – Oprah's Book Club selection
  • Catalogue for the exhibition Paris en Relief, Musée Carnavalet
  • Catalogues for the Toulouse Lautrec, Miró, Braque and Artists of the 20th century exhibitions held at the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens
  • Chocolat mon amour, M. Richart
  • Inside the Mind of Killer, Jean-François Abgrall
  • Alexander Villedieu’s Fountain Pen, Michel Guede
  • Iran and the Bomb, Thérèse Delpech
  • The Enigma of Islamist Violence,, Amélie Blom, Laetitia Bucaille and Luis Martinez eds.
  • The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East, Olivier Roy
  • Beckett before Beckett
  • Holy Ignorance, Olivier Roy
  • Russie, l’Envers du Pouvoir, Marie Mendras
  • The Crime of Jean Genet, Dominique Eddé
  • Translation as Transhumance, Mireille Gansel – winner of a February 2016 French Voices Award
  • Selfies, Sylvie Weil
  • Edward Said: His Thought as a Novel, Dominique Eddé, Verso, 2019