Isabel Adey

Isabel Adey is a literary translator and editor working with Spanish, German and English. She was longlisted two years in a row for the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute translation prize (for Giovanna Rivero’s Fresh Dirt from the Grave in 2024 and her co-translation of Marvel Moreno’s December Breeze, which made it onto the shortlist in 2023). She is also a former winner of the Goethe Institute’s Emerging Translator Programme for her work from German into English. Her translation of Alfons Kaiser’s definitive biography Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Fashion was named a Financial Times Book of the Year 2022. 

Her translations span multiple disciplines, from literary fiction to nonfiction and academia. Particularly interested in writing that deals with cultural identity, class politics and migration, she also has a penchant for memoirs and marginalised voices. Literature that defies classification and draws on the oral tradition excites her. 

Isabel is a meticulous editor with several publications to her name. She has translated numerous academic articles, particularly for Art in Translation. She regularly translates content for museums, art galleries and cultural institutions.

Actively committed to developing her craft and collaborating with colleagues, Isabel has participated in translation residencies at the Jan Michalski Foundation in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Arvon Centre, Lumb Bank. She previously held a temporary position at Heriot-Watt University, where she taught translation to postgraduate level. 

When she isn’t at her desk, Isabel enjoys listening to music, being in nature, travelling and generally being curious about the world and the people in it.