Sophie Hughes is a British literary translator who works from Spanish and Italian into English. She studied at University College London and has built her career on contemporary fiction, with more than twenty novels to her name. In 2026 she is also a judge of the International Booker Prize.
Her list leans toward writers who push hard on language and on the social worlds around them. She has translated Fernanda Melchor's Hurricane Season and Paradais from Mexico, Alia Trabucco Zerán's The Remainder from Chile, and work by Enrique Vila-Matas and José Revueltas. Latronico's Perfection, from Italian, is a spare satire of a very different temperature, which shows her range. In a conversation with Latronico she described translation as interpretation, and said the two of them treated the English as something close to a new book.
The recognition is considerable. The Booker Prizes site calls her the most nominated translator in the International Booker's history: The Remainder was shortlisted in 2019, Hurricane Season in 2020, and Perfection in 2025. Perfection was also longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Translated Literature.
If you came here from Perfection, you already have the best starting point. It is short, follows Anna and Tom, a couple whose picture-perfect life leaves them feeling trapped, and Latronico has said it began as a rewriting of Georges Perec's Les choses for the digital age. Readers who want something louder next should try Hurricane Season, a much harsher and more turbulent novel.
