Ann Goldstein is an American editor and translator from the Italian language. She is best known for her translations of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet.
After her graduation, in 1973, Goldstein began work at Esquire magazine as a proof-reader. In 1974, she joined the staff of The New Yorker, working in the copy department and becoming its head in the late 1980s. From 1987, Goldstein edited John Updike's literary reviews contributed to the New Yorker. During her time at the New Yorker, Goldstein, along with some colleagues, began taking Italian lessons. Over a period of three years, from 1987, they studied the language and read all of Dante's works. In 1992, Goldstein received Chekhov in Sondrio, a book by Aldo Buzzi, an Italian writer, and she attempted to translate an essay from it. This became Goldstein's first translation publication, coming out in the Sept. 14, 1992, edition of the New Yorker. In 2004, Goldstein was asked by Europa Editions, a new imprint, to submit a translation of passages from Elena Ferrante's The Days of Abandonment. Her sample was judged the best among the submissions, and she was offered the contract to translate the book. In 2015, a three-volume publication of the complete works of Primo Levicame out, edited by Goldstein. The effort of obtaining translation rights took six years, while its compilation and translation took seventeen years, and it was acclaimed by critics. Goldstein oversaw the team of nine translators and translated three of Levi's books. In addition to translating, Goldstein is currently the head of the Copy Department for the New Yorker.
"Translators rarely achieve celebrity status. But as Ms. Ferrante’s star has risen, so too has Ms. Goldstein’s. Her English translations of the four books in Ms. Ferrante’s Neapolitan series have sold more than a million copies in North America, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. Ms. Goldstein... is now one of the most sought-after translators of Italian literature."
Robert Weil, editor-in-chief and publishing director of Liveright, has said of Goldstein, “Her name on a book now is gold."
