Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp

Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is a literary translator who translates fiction and nonfiction into English from Arabic, Russian and German. She won an IBBY Honor List award in 2022 for her translation of The Raven’s Children by Yulia Yakovleva. Her work has also been shortlisted for the Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize, the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize and the GLLI Translated YA Prize. She has several times been awarded a PEN Translates grant for her translations, which include fiction and nonfiction from Germany, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Russia, Switzerland, and Syria.

Ruth has a particular interest in history and historical fiction, children’s publishing, and diverse and inclusive literature, including queer/LGBTQ literature, and writing by authors of color.

Ruth is a passionate advocate for global reading and translation for young people. She regularly gives translation workshops in schools, especially in September, World Kid Lit Month, and she writes about children’s and YA literature in translation for Words Without Borders, World Literature Today, and World Kid Lit.