With White Nights longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024, we spoke to its author and translator about their experience of working on the novel together – and their favourite books
Kate Webster
Kate Webster is a translator of Polish to English, based in London
She began translating in 2012, during a three-year stint as a teacher in Szczecin and Warsaw, Poland. Webster has translated many short stories and essays for publication in anthologies and online media and, in September 2018, took part in the Emerging Translator Mentorship Programme organised by the National Centre for Writing, where she was mentored by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. In 2022, she published her first book-length translation, The Map by Barbara Sadurska, for which she was shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize 2023.
Most recently, she has been working on a children’s book about holidays and festivals from around the world and a non-fiction account of perceptions of disability in Poland. White Nights by Urszula Honek is her second book-length translation and is longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024.
All nominated books
Translated by Kate Webster