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.

Guest 

Shelley Fairweather-Vega

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

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes.

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

Shelley Fairweather-Vega is a Seattle-based translator.&nbsp;
She&rsquo;s responsible for the English edition of Uzbek writer Hamid Ismailov&rsquo;s novel &ldquo;We Computers.&rdquo;
For that work, Fairweather-Vega is a finalist for a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/books/2025-national-book-award-finalists.html">2025 National Book Award</a> in the translated literature category.&nbsp;
She wrote in the afterword to &ldquo;We Computers,&rdquo; that she tried to find room in the plot for the poetry, and room for the poetry in the plot.&nbsp;
We talk with her about her work and the community of translators around the Puget Sound.
Guest&nbsp;
<a href="https://fairvega.com/">Shelley Fairweather-Vega</a>
Related Links
<a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2025/08/19/we-computers-a-conversation-with-hamid-ismailov-and-shelley-fairweather-vega/">We Computers: A Conversation with Hamid Ismailov and Shelley Fairweather-Vega</a> - Yale University Press
<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/2025-national-book-awards-seattle-writer-translator-longlisted/">2025 National Book Awards: Seattle writer, translator longlisted</a> - The Seattle Times
Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to <a href="http://kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes" data-stringify-link="http://kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes" data-sk="tooltip_parent">kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes.</a>
Soundside&nbsp;is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

Soundside

We talk with Shelley Fairweather-Vega about her work translating Hamid Ismailov's novel "We Computers" into English.

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