Julia Sherwood

Julia Sherwood was born in Bratislava to writer and humorist Ján Kalina and journalist Agneša Kalinová. After her family was forced to emigrate, she studied Slavic languages and English at universities in Cologne, Munich and London. She went on to work for more than twenty years at the headquarters of the human rights organization Amnesty International. Julia has long been based in London, where she focuses on literary translation. In addition to Slovak, she translates from Czech, Polish and Russian.

She founded and runs the Facebook group Slovak Literature in English Translation, which shares news and updates about Slovak books available in English. She also curates The Slovak List, a series of Slovak titles published by the renowned Seagull Books. Together with Magdalena Mullek, she co-founded the website SlovakLiterature.com and co-edited Into the Spotlight, an anthology of contemporary Slovak writing.

In 2019, she received the Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav Prize, awarded to foreign translators who have made a long-term and significant contribution to bringing Slovak literature to international readers.