Ann Goldstein (born June 1949) is an American editor and translator from the

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about ...

. She is best known for her translations of

Elena Ferrante Elena Ferrante () is a pseudonymous Italian novelist. Ferrante's books, originally published in Italian, have been translated into many languages. Her four-book series of ''Neapolitan Novels'' are her most widely known works. ''Time'' magazine ...

's '' Neapolitan Quartet''. She was the panel chair for translated fiction at the US

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

in 2022. She was awarded the PEN Renato Poggioli prize in 1994 and was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2008.

Early life

Ann Goldstein grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey. She attended

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

, in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, where she read

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

. She then studied comparative philology at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

Career

After her graduation, in 1973, Goldstein began work at '' Esquire'' magazine as a proof-reader. In 1974, she joined the staff of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', working in the copy department and becoming its head in the late 1980s. She retired from ''The New Yorker'' in 2017. From 1987, Goldstein edited John Updike's literary reviews contributed to ''The New Yorker''. During her time at ''The New Yorker'', Goldstein, along with some colleagues, began taking Italian lessons. Over a period of three years, from 1987, they studied the language and read all of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...

's works. In 1992, Goldstein received ''Chekhov in Sondrio'', a book by

Aldo Buzzi Aldo Buzzi (10 August 1910 – 9 October 2009) was an author and architect. Born in Como, Italy, Buzzi graduated from the Milan School of Architecture in 1938. Though primarily an author of travel and gastronomy books, he also worked as an arch ...

, an Italian writer, and she attempted to translate an essay from it. This became Goldstein's first translation publication, coming out in the Sept. 14, 1992, edition of the New Yorker. In 2004, Goldstein was asked by

Europa Editions Europa Editions is an independent trade publisher based in New York. The company was founded in 2005 by the owners of the Italian press Edizioni E/O and specializes in literary fiction, mysteries, and narrative non-fiction. Europa has published ...

, a new imprint, to submit a translation of passages from

's ''The Days of Abandonment''. Her sample was judged the best among the submissions, and she was offered the contract to translate the book. In 2015, a three-volume publication of the complete works of

Primo Levi Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was an Italian chemist, partisan, writer, and Jewish Holocaust survivor. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works ...

came out, edited by Goldstein. The effort of obtaining translation rights took six years, while its compilation and translation took seventeen years, and it was acclaimed by critics. Goldstein oversaw the team of nine translators and translated three of Levi's books.

Accolades

Jennifer Maloney in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' writes in 2016:

"Translators rarely achieve celebrity status. But as Ms. Ferrante’s star has risen, so too has Ms. Goldstein’s. Her English translations of the four books in Ms. Ferrante’s Neapolitan series have sold more than a million copies in North America, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. Ms. Goldstein ... is now one of the most sought-after translators of Italian literature."

Robert Weil, editor-in-chief and publishing director of Liveright, has said of Goldstein, “Her name on a book now is gold."

Selected works

Translated

; Fiction * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ; Non-fiction * * * *

Edited

Honours

* 1993, 2002 – Fellowship of the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects, ...

* 2008 – Guggenheim Fellowship *

PEN A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

Renato Poggioli Renato Poggioli (April 16, 1907 in Florence – May 3, 1963 in Crescent City), was an Italian academic specializing in comparative literature. After 1938, he lived in the United States. At the time of his death, he was the Curt Hugo Reisinger Pr ...

Translation Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldstein, Ann Bennington College alumni Alumni of University College London Living people 20th-century American translators Italian–English translators Literary translators 1949 births 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women