Margaret Elisabeth Jull Costa OBE (born 2 May 1949) is a British translator of Portuguese- and Spanish-language fiction and poetry, including the works of Eça de Queiroz, Fernando Pessoa, Javier Marías, Bernardo Atxaga, José Régio and Nobel Prize winner José Saramago.
In recent years she has been noted for her work in translating the novels of José Saramago for which she won a number of awards. Her translations include All the Names, and Death at Intervals, about a country where death ceases to exist, was published in 2008.
As part of its 'Europe 1992–2004' programme, the UK publishers Dedalus embarked on a series of new translations by Jull Costa of some of the major classics of Portuguese literature. These include seven works by Eça de Queiroz: Cousin Bazilio (1878, translation published 2003, funded by the Arts Council of England), The Tragedy of the Street of Flowers, The Mandarin (and Other Stories), The Relic, The Crime of Father Amaro, The Maias and The City and the Mountains (2008).
In 2006, she published the translation of the first part of Javier Marías's trilogy, Your Face Tomorrow 1: Fever and Spear. The second part, 2: Dance and Dream, was published in 2006, while the concluding part, 3: Poison, Shadow and Farewell, appeared in November 2009. This last volume won her the 2010 Premio Valle-Inclan.
Her English translation of The Accordionist's Son by the Basque author Bernardo Atxaga was published by Harvill Secker (2007) while her previous translations of Atxaga's work include The Lone Man (1996) and The Lone Woman (1999).
Her translation of The Maias by Eça de Queiroz was published by Dedalus Books in 2007, the original book was described by José Saramago as "the greatest book by Portugal's greatest novelist".
In 2008, as first of a new Dedalus Euro Shorts series, Jull Costa made the first-ever English translation of Helena, or The Sea in Summer, Julián Ayesta's enduring, pointillist novel, first published in Spain in 1952 as Hélena o el mar del verano, and for which he is most remembered. Her biographical introduction to the book provides English-language readers with a brief but essential portrait of Ayesta (1919–1996), author, Spanish diplomat and outspoken critic of the Franco regime.
Alberto Barrera Tyszka – Crimes
Alberto Barrera Tyszka – The Sickness
Alvaro Pombo – The Hero of the Big House
Angela Vallvey – Happy Creatures
Angela Vallvey – Hunting the Last Wild Man
António Lobo Antunes – The Land at the End of the World
Antonio Tabucchi – Requiem: A Hallucination
Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Flanders Panel
Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Club Dumas
Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Fencing Master
Benito Perez Galdos – Tristana
Bernardo Atxaga – Obabakoak
Bernardo Atxaga – The Lone Man
Bernardo Atxaga – The Lone Woman
Bernardo Atxaga – The Adventures of Shola
Bernardo Atxaga – Shola and the Lions
Bernardo Atxaga – The Accordionist's Son
Carmen Martin Gaite – Variable Cloud
Carmen Martin Gaite – The Farewell Angel
Diogo Mainardi – The Fall: A Father's Memoir in 424 Steps
Fernando Pessoa – The Book of Disquiet
Helen Constantine (editor) – Madrid Tales
Javier Garcia Sanchez – The Others
Javier Marías – All Souls
Javier Marías – The Man of Feeling
Javier Marías – When I Was Mortal
Javier Marias – Tomorrow in the Battle Think On Me
Javier Marías – A Heart So White
Javier Marías – The Infatuations
Javier Marías - Thus the Bad Begins
Javier Marías – Your Face Tomorrow: Fever and Spear
Javier Marías – Your Face Tomorrow: Dance and Dream
Javier Marías – Your Face Tomorrow: Poison, Shadow, and Farewell
Javier Marías – While the Women Are Sleeping
Javier Marías – Written Lives
Jesús Carrasco – Out in the Open
Jorge de Sena – The Prodigious Physician
José Maria de Eça de Queirós – The Maias
José Maria de Eça de Queirós – The City and the Mountains
José Maria de Eça de Queirós – The Crime of Father Amaro
José Maria de Eça de Queirós – Alves and Co. And Other Stories
José Maria de Eça de Queirós – The Mandarin and other stories
Jose Maria Eca de Queiroz – Cousin Bazilio: A domestic episode
Eca de Queiroz – The Tragedy of the Street of Flowers
Eca de Queiroz – The Mystery of the Sintra Road
Eca de Queiroz – The Relic
Eca de Queiroz – The Illustrious House of Ramires
Jose Regio – The Flame-Coloured Dress
Jose Saramago – Death with Interruptions
Jose Saramago – The Double
Jose Saramago – Skylight
Jose Saramago – The Elephant's Journey
Jose Saramago – Cain
Jose Saramago – All the Names
Jose Saramago – The Cave
José Saramago – Raised from the Ground
Jose Saramago – Small Memories
Jose Saramago – The Tale of the Unknown Island
Jose Saramago – Seeing
Jose Saramago – Blindness
Juan Jose Saer – The Witness
Julian Ayesta – Helena, or the Sea in Summer
Julio Llamazares – The Yellow Rain
Lidia Jorge – The Painter of Birds
Luis Cardoso – The Crossing: A Story of East Timor
Luis Fernando Verissimo – Borges and the Eternal Orangutans
Luis Fernando Verissimo – The Spies
Luis Fernando Verissimo – The Club of Angels
Luisa Valenzuela – Bedside Manners
Luisa Valenzuela – Symmetries
Manuel Rivas – Butterfly's Tongue
Marcos Giralt Torrente – Paris
Mario de Sa-Carneiro – Lucio's Confession
Mario De Sa-Carneiro – The Great Shadow And Other Stories
Michel Laub – Diary of the Fall
Paulo Coelho – Eleven Minutes
Paulo Coelho – Like the Flowing River: Stories, 1998–2005
Paulo Coelho – The Zahir
Paulo Coelho – Manuscript Found in Accra
Paulo Coelho – Aleph
Paulo Coelho – Adultery
Paulo Coelho – Brida
Paulo Coelho – Veronika Decides to Die
Paulo Coelho – The Witch of Portobello
Rafael Chirbes – On the Edge
Rafael Sanchez Ferlosio – The Adventures of the Ingenious Alfanhi
Rafael Sanchez Ferlosio – The River: El Jarama
Ramon Valle-Inclan – Spring and Summer Sonatas: The Memoirs of the Marquis of Bradomin
Ramon Del Valle-Inclan – Autumn & Winter Sonatas: The Memoirs of Marquis of Bradomin
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen – The Perfect Hour (co-translator: Colin Rorrison)
Teolinda Gersao – The Word Tree
The Dedalus Book of Portuguese Fantasy
The Dedalus Book of Spanish Fantasy
Awards and honours
1992 Portuguese Translation Prize winner for translation of The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
1996 Portuguese Translation Prize runner-up for translation of The Relic by Eça de Queiroz
1997 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award winner for translation of A Heart So White by Javier Marías
2000 Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize winner for translation of All the Names by Jose Saramago
2002 Portuguese Translation Prize runner-up for translation of The Migrant Painter of Birds by Lídia Jorge
2006 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize shortlist for translation of Your Face Tomorrow 1: Fever and Spear by Javier Marías
2006 Arts Council, Spanish Embassy and Instituto Cervantes translation prize winner for Your Face Tomorrow 1: Fever and Spear by Javier Marías
2008 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize winner for translation of The Maias by Eça de Queiroz
2008 Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize winner for translation of The Maias by Eça de Queiroz
2010 Times Literary Supplement Translation Prize winner for translation of The Accordionist's Son by Bernardo Atxaga
2011 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize winner for translation of The Elephant's Journey by Jose Saramago
2012 Calouste Gulbenkian Prize winner for translation of The Word Tree by Teolinda Gersão
2012 Calouste Gulbenkian Prize runner-up for translation of The Land at the End of the World by António Lobo Antunes
2013 Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
2014 Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours
2015 Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize winner for translation of Diary of the Fall
2015 Awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of Leeds
