Hi, I’m Archana. I translate from Korean into English.
I’m a literary translator with a day job as an instructional designer in the software industry. My background may be in STEM, but I’ve always held a deep love for writing, reading, and learning languages. I began learning Korean over fifteen years ago and started translating contemporary Korean literature in 2019.
My book-length works include Glory Hole by Kim Hyun (co-translation, 2022) and Roadkill by Amil (2025). My other poetry and prose translations have been published in The Kenyon Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, Columbia Journal, and more. In 2022, I was chosen for the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) Emerging Translator Mentorship Program to translate Lee Jenny’s debut book of poetry 아마도 아프리카. This translation was shortlisted for the Granum Translation Prize in 2023 and won the Malinda A. Markham Translation Prize in 2024. In 2025, it was published under the title Pirowa Padowa from Saturnalia Books.
You can contact me at archamadh (at) gmail (dot) com.