Polly Barton (author)

Polly Barton is a British writer and translator of Japanese to English. She is the author of two non-fiction books, Fifty Sounds and Porn: An Oral History, and has translated numerous titles of Japanese literature and non-fiction.^[1] Her translations have been featured in Granta, Catapult, and The White Review, and in 2019 she won the Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize for her non-fiction debut, Fifty Sounds.^[2][3]

Polly Barton
Born	London, England
Alma mater	University of Cambridge; SOAS University of London
Occupations	Translator and writer
Awards	English PEN Translates award, 2020

Life and career

Born and raised in west London, England, Barton studied philosophy at the University of Cambridge.^[4] She travelled to Japan to teach English as part of the JET Program.^[5] She also holds an MA degree in the Theory and Practice of Translation from SOAS University of London.^[4]

In 2025, Barton founded the festival Translated By, Bristol, which celebrates translation and translated literature.^[6]

Bibliography

• Fifty Sounds (2021)
• Porn: An Oral History (2023)
• What Am I, A Deer? (2026)

As translator:

• Spring Garden, Tomoka Shibasaki
• There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job, Kikuko Tsumura
• So We Look to the Sky, Misumi Kubo
• Where the Wild Ladies Are, Aoko Matsuda
• Friendship for Grown-Ups, Naocola Yamazaki
• Mikumari, Misumi Kubo
• Butter, Asako Yuzuki
• Mild Vertigo, Mieko Kanai
• Hunchback, Saou Ichikawa

Awards and honours

• Winner of English PEN Translates award 2020, for translating There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job.^[7]
• Longlisted for the 2022 Ondaatje Prize for Fifty Sounds.^[8]
• Shortlisted for the 2022 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award for Fifty Sounds.^[9]
• Longlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize for translating Hunchback^[10]