Yiddish Translation Services

Typesetting,

book design

& self-publishing services

Are you the grandchild/great-grandchild etc. of a Yiddish writer? Are there old Yiddish books—a novel, essays, memoirs, short-stories or poetry—that you can't read, gathering dust on a shelf somewhere?

Do you dream of accessing those writings in English? I can help turn your dusty old keepsakes into brand-spanking new English editions.

Services include:

Reading
Evaluation
Full or partial translation
Editing
Proof-reading
Typesetting
Book design
Self-publishing advice.

I also specialise in typesetting of Yiddish language / bilingual materials.

I help clients set up their books for commercial distribution: Example

Or help them make the work publicly accessible and available for posterity.

Contact me for further details, to obtain a quote, or to see samples of my work.

Borders, by Abraham Goldberg. Translated and typeset for private client.

An Anthology of Practical & Clever Phrases, by Abraham Schneider. Translated and typeset for private client.

Testimonials

"What we were seeking was not merely the transmission of Ab Goldberg's ideas, but of his style, his personality, what he was like. For that, I needed a professional literary translator and, as luck would have it, that is exactly what I found."

Amy Laborde, granddaughter of Abraham Goldberg

"Just a note to tell you how pleased we were with the quality of your work [...] we very much appreciate your ability and your conscientiousness to stay true to the story."

Elliot Isban, son of Samuel Isban

Our Time is Coming, by Abraham Goldberg. Translated and typeset for private client.

Blurbs

Praise for A Cheerful Soul and Other Stories:

“Kennedy renders Nomberg’s Yiddish into impeccable English prose . . . The resulting translation is absorbing."

— Irina Dumitrescu, Times Literary Supplement

Praise for A Death:

"Atmosphere abounds in this short, bleak novel."

— Tobias Carroll, Words without Borders

"Most of this (in)action is high morbid wit and Kennedy’s miraculous English allows as much Yiddish laughter as our too-Latinized tongue can probably bear. It is all very subtle despite the histrionics, with a hauntingly comic despair."

— Martin Billheimer, Counterpunch

"A disturbingly satisfying read."

— M. A. Orthofer, The Complete Review

Praise for Warsaw Stories

“Tinged with the deeply hopeless, yet nervously optimistic perspective of pre-WWII Jewish intellectuals, the stories of Hersh Dovid Nomberg evoke the lost world of Jewish luftmentsh autodidacts floating between urban cultures while in the process of creating their own. Daniel Kennedy’s sharp translation shows us a rich Yiddish landscape riddled with young Jews deep in intellectual ferment, culturally unmoored but with a curiosity for life that swells hearts."

— Eddy Portnoy, author of Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Tales from the Yiddish Press

“Hilarious and insightful, a glimpse of a vanished world seen close at hand, with poverty, propriety, romance and much more. Nomberg was a forgotten genius, forgotten until . . . now! A very fine translation, too!"

— Paul Buhle, Co-editor of Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular & the New Land

"Poignant, unsettling, and deeply moving [. . .] superb translation . . ."

— Donald Weber, Jewish Book Council

"Illegal Jews Part the Seas" by Samuel Isban. Available in Hardback, Paperback and ebook versions.