Mārta Ziemele (1988) is a translator and poet, who was born in Germany and grew up there and in the Middle East. As a result of her international upbringing and education, she is always excited to travel and learn about other languages and cultures, and is fluent in English, Latvian, French and Italian. She translates from Latvian, French and Italian to English, and enjoys working with poetry, travel writing and all kinds of fiction, especially historical fiction, fantasy and young adult literature. Mārta earned a BA and MA in Italian Studies from the University of Toronto; it was also in Toronto that her poetry was first published, in the literary journals UC Review and Garm Lu: A Canadian Celtic Arts Journal. Mārta continues to publish poetry from time to time on her blog Escapist Troubadour, where she also expresses her keen interests in pop culture, history, myths, folklore and folk music. Mārta’s first novel-length translation, The Water of Life (Uisge beatha) by Daniel Marchildon, published by Odyssey Books in Australia in July 2015, combines many of these interests, and she hopes to be able to continue her career with equally beautiful writing by fascinating people.
