Angela Rodel () is an American-born Bulgarian-to-English literary translator and the executive director of the Bulgarian

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Commission. In 2023, Rodel won the

International Booker Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Boo ...

for her translation of

Georgi Gospodinov Georgi Gospodinov Georgiev (; born 7 January 1968) is a Bulgarian writer, poet and playwright. His novel '' Time Shelter'' received the 2023 International Booker Prize, shared with translator Angela Rodel, as well as the Strega European Prize. ...

's novel '' Time Shelter''.

Life

Rodel was born in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. She graduated from

Burnsville High School Burnsville High School (BHS) is a four-year public high school in Burnsville, Minnesota, United States. Burnsville is a southern suburb about 15 miles south of Minneapolis. The school is part of Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191, whic ...

in 1992. She has a B.A. in linguistics from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and an M.A. in linguistics and ethnomusicology from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. She joined a Slavic chorus at Yale and first came to Bulgaria in 1996 to study its language and music at

Sofia University Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" () is a public university, public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria. Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constr ...

. Rodel has been living in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, Bulgaria since 2004 with her Bulgarian husband and daughter. She was awarded Bulgarian citizenship in 2014.

Selected translations

* ''Holy Light'' by

Georgi Tenev Georgi Tenev (born 9 October 1969, in Sofia, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian novelist, short story writer, playwright and film/TV screenwriter. Major topics in Tenev's works are the cultural and ideological void in the post-totalitarian societies and th ...

* ''Thrown into Nature'' by Milen Ruskov (Open Letter Books, 2011) * ''Nine Rabbits'' by Virginia Zaharieva (Istros Books, 2012) * ''18% Gray'' by Zachary Karabashliev (Open Letter Books, 2013) * ''A Short Tale of Shame'' by Angel Igov (Open Letter Books, 2013) * ''The Parchment Maze'' by

Lyudmila Filipova Lyudmila Orlinova Filipova () (born April 10, 1977) is a Bulgarian novelist and journalist. Since 2006, Filipova has written seven novels, all of which have become best-sellers. In October 2011, a television team from National Geographic filmed a ...

(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013) * ''Dante's Antichthon'' by Lyudmila Filipova (Egmont Bulgaria, 2014) * ''The Physics of Sorrow'' by

(Liveright, 2015) **

PEN Translation Prize The PEN Translation Prize (formerly known as the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize through 2008) is an annual award given by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to outstanding translations into the English language. It has been pr ...

nominee **

National Translation Award The National Translation Award is awarded annually by the American Literary Translators Association The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) is an organization in the United States dedicated to literary translation. ALTA promotes literar ...

nominee **

Best Translated Book Award The Best Translated Book Award was an American literary award that recognized the previous year's best original translation into English, one book of poetry and one of fiction. It was inaugurated in 2008 and was conferred by Three Percent, the onl ...

nominee * ''Party Headquarters'' by Georgi Tenev (Open Letter Books, 2016) * ''The Wolf Hunt'' by Ivailo Petrov (Archipelago Books, 2017) * '' Time Shelter'' by Georgi Gospodinov (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2022) **

winner * ''The Case of Cem'' by

Vera Mutafchieva Vera Mutafchieva (; March 28, 1929 – June 9, 2009) was a Bulgarian writer and historian. Biography Vera Mutafchieva was born in Sofia, March 28, 1929. Her parents were the historian prof. Petar Mutafchiev and Nadia Triphonova. Mutafchieva ...

(Sandorf Passage, 2024)

References

21st-century American translators Bulgarian translators Literary translators Living people Writers from Milwaukee Translators to English People from Burnsville, Minnesota Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-translator-stub