A Seattle-based translator on 'We Computers,' dirty jokes and AI-proof careers
Shelley Fairweather-Vega is a Seattle-based translator.
She’s responsible for the English edition of Uzbek writer Hamid Ismailov’s novel “We Computers.”
For that work, Fairweather-Vega is a finalist for a 2025 National Book Award in the translated literature category.
She wrote in the afterword to “We Computers,” that she tried to find room in the plot for the poetry, and room for the poetry in the plot.
We talk with her about her work and the community of translators around the Puget Sound.
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Related Links
We Computers: A Conversation with Hamid Ismailov and Shelley Fairweather-Vega - Yale University Press
2025 National Book Awards: Seattle writer, translator longlisted - The Seattle Times
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Libby Denkmann
Host, Soundside
Libby Denkmann joined KUOW in December 2021 as the host of the midday show Soundside. She’s a native Pacific Northwesterner who grew up in Redmond, graduated from the University of Washington, and covered local news as a producer and reporter with KIRO Radio.
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Gabrielle Healy
Senior Producer, Soundside
Gabrielle is a senior producer for Soundside, covering everything from politics to culture.
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