Jessica Cohen Biography
Jessica Cohen Is a is a British-Israeli-American translator. Known For Sharing the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for translating David Grossman’s 2014 novel A Horse Walks Into a Bar. Born In 1973 in Colchester, England to Stanley Cohen and Ruth Kretzmer in 1973. She moved with her family to Israel at the age of seven and went on to study English literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
After moving to the United States with her husband in 1997, she studied Middle Eastern literature and languages at Indiana University.
Cohen has translated a number of Hebrew language books into English, including those by Nir Baram, David Grossman, Amir Gutfreund [he], Yael Hedaya [he], Ronit Matalon, Rutu Modan, Dorit Rabinyan, Tom Segev and Nava Semel. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado. Following her joint success in the 2017 Man Booker International Prize, Cohen planned to donate half of her winnings to B’Tselem.
Other Personalities: Marilynne Robinson
Jessica Cohen(Translator) Career
Cohen, a freelance English Hebrew literary translator born in England and raised in Israel, has come a long way since winning ATA’s Student Translation Award in 2000. Jessica started her freelance career in 1998. Her first book-length translation was published in 2003, and over the years she devoted more and more time to literary translation while maintaining a commercial translation business. Since 2012, she has focused exclusively on literary and creative translation. She has worked with some of Israel’s finest writers, including Assaf Gavron, David Grossman, Amir Gutfreund, Yael Hedaya, Etgar Keret, Ronit Matalon, Rutu Modan, and Tom Segev, as well as prominent screenwriters such as Ari Folman and Ron Leshem. Her translations have been published in English by leading U.S. publishers.
In June of 2017, Jessica and David Grossman won the Man Booker International Prize for the year’s best-translated work of a fiction novel. Grossman and Cohen shared the £50,000 prize, which was awarded to Cohen’s English translation of A Horse Walk into a Bar, Grossman’s novel about a standup comedian’s public breakdown. This was only the second year the Man Booker International Prize was awarded to a single book. (The 2016 prize was awarded to South Korean novelist Han Kang and translator Deborah Smith for The Vegetarian.)
Jessica was kind enough to allow me the opportunity to speak with her about working with David Grossman, her thoughts on the process of literary translation, as well as some upcoming projects.
Jessica Cohen Age|Birthday
Born in 1973 She Is About 46 years of age of 2019. Her Birthday date is still under Research.
Jessica Cohen Family
After doing our research, details about her parents are not available and it is also not known if she has any siblings.
Jessica Cohen Partner
She likes to keep her personal life private hence information about her dating life is not available. It is therefore not known whether she is married or has any children. However, this information will be updated as soon as it is available.
Jessica Cohen Body Measurements
- Height: Not Available
- Weight: Not Available
- Shoe Size: Not Available
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Jessica Cohen(Translator)Networth
Her Estimated Networth is Still Under Review we Will update when Information Is Available.
Jessica Cohen(Translator) Ata
You and ATA go back quite some time together. I remember when you won ATA’s Student Translation Award in 2000. I was one of the readers for the award that year and was so blown away by the quality of your translation that I still remember the title of the book from which your translation was taken, Milk Teeth by Yehonatan Geffen.
I was working on my certificate in literary translation as part of my master’s degree at Indiana University at that time. Breon Mitchell, a charter member and past president of the American Literary Translators Association, was the chair of the Comparative Literature Department and my husband’s dissertation advisor. It was through a chat with him that I decided to enroll in the MA program in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. At that point, Indiana’s Certificate in Literary Translation Program had all but faded away, but it was under Breon that it was resuscitated. He put together a combination of classes for me, including some from other departments, to make up a full certificate program.
Jessica Cohen(Translator) Microsoft
How did you get started in translation?I had actually started translating at Microsoft when I lived in Seattle, Washington, but became a freelancer when I moved to Indiana. I had envisioned that I would continue with commercial translation for the foreseeable future. I started literary translation as a hobby and discovered I had a real liking for it and wished I could do more of it from Hebrew into English
That’s hard to say, but it’s very important to get that type of recognition early on. It did give me a push to make a serious commitment.
Jessica Cohen(Translator) On David Grossman
David Grossman is exceptional in his appreciation of his translators. For his last two books he organized a meeting with several of his translators (myself included) during the translation process at the Straelen Translation Centre in Straelen, Germany, an international center for translators of literature and nonfiction. We met with him for four days, and it was like a retreat where everyone sat down at the table and went over the text. Our translations of the book into our respective languages were all at different stages of completion, so we came with our drafts and our questions.
David wants these meetings to be a helpful and enriching experience. It’s an opportunity to rethink what you’ve translated so far, exchange ideas, hear what he has to say about the book, and perhaps arrive at better solutions. There’s also a certain efficiency to this process, since David can deal with all the questions posed by his translators at once instead of having to answer them piecemeal. Since everyone is working on the same text but not at the same pace, hearing the answers to questions from those further along in the translation process is extremely helpful.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jessica Cohen
Who is Jessica?
Jessica Cohen Is a is a British-Israeli-American translator. Known For Sharing the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for translating David Grossman’s 2014 novel A Horse Walks Into a Bar. Born In 1973 in Colchester, England to Stanley Cohen and Ruth Kretzmer in 1973. She moved with her family to Israel at the age of seven and went on to study English literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
How old is Cohen?
Born in 1973 She Is About 46 years of age of 2019. Her Birthday date is still under Research
How tall is Cohen?
She stands at a fair height and has a fair body weight to match her height.
Is Cohen married?
She has managed to keep her personal life very private we will update when information is available.
How much is Cohen worth?
Her Estimated Networth is Still Under Review we Will update when Information Is Available.
How much does Cohen make?
Her exact salary and earnings are still under investigation we will update when information is available.
Where does Cohen live?
Is Cohen dead or alive?
She is still alive and in good health.
Where is Cohen now?
She is still pursuing her Translating Career.