We are translators of literary fiction as well as film scripts, essays, journalism and academic texts. Between us we cover a range of Central and East European languages – Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Russian.

“Bodor’s prose, in Peter Sherwood’s lithe translation, is casual and chatty, but also nuanced, sensory and bleakly humorous.” (Diána Vonnák reviewing Birds of Verhovina, Times Literary Supplement, 24 December 2021)

‘But the key role in making Balla’s – and Dobrakovová’s – fiction so readable for a British audience is played by the translators, Julia and Peter Sherwood. With their linguistic skills and perfect pitch, they have done as much for the international reputation of Slovak prose as any single Slovak writer.’ (Donald Rayfield reviewing Bellevue and Big Love, Literary Review, October 2019)

‘The clever choice of texts and skill of the translators make the whole volume a genuine twenty-first-century reading experience, fast and marked by repeated bursts of intensity, disorientation, sustained anxiety and fleeting joy.’ (Rajendra Chitnis reviewing Into the Spotlight, Slavic Review, December 2018).

‘Vilikovský’s prose, in Julia and Peter Sherwood’s translation, is light and graceful; and the tone is more often gently humorous than elegiac. This is an unusual and original work that resists easy categorisation and repays careful reading.’  (Fiona Graham on Fleeting Snow, Riveting Reviews, November 2018)

‘This anthology deserves to be read widely. I hope it’s not the last we hear from these writers. It certainly won’t be the last we hear from Mullek and Sherwood in their efforts to bring Slovak writers out of the shadows and into the spotlight. ‘(Mark Lencho reviewing Into the Spotlight, Slavic and East European Journal, June 2018)

In the Name of the Father and The Equestrienne longlisted for the inaugural 2018 EBRD Literature Prize:

‘A series of short stories that explore the themes of identity and belonging and confront the meaning of reality. This is Central European existential angst at its best, perfectly captured by the Sherwoods’ outstanding translation from the Slovak.’  Peter Frankopan, EBRD judge on In the Name of the Father.

‘Uršul’a Kovalyk’s novel is a rainbow of images and insights that guides a young girl to a world after communism. The rainbow is broken; it broke my heart. Julia and Peter Sherwood’s flawless translation gives pace and fluidity to a read spiked with moments of astonishing audacity.’ Gabriel Gbadamosi, EBRD  judge on The Equestrienne.

‘Julia Sherwood, who works in collaboration with her husband Peter, has been almost singlehandedly responsible for the recent emergence of Slovak literature from near-total obscurity.’

(Charles Sabatos, Los Angeles Review of Books, 28 August 2017)

‘Samko Tále’s Cemetery Book by the Slovak writer Daniela Kapitáňová offers us, in a superb translation by Julia Sherwood, one of the strangest and most compelling voices I have come across in years. Muriel Spark meets Russell Hoban. An astonishing, dark and scabrous novel.‘
(William Boyd, Guardian Books of the Year, Christmas 2010)