Sandra Tamele

Sandra Tamele holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, but her love for languages and reading spurred her toward literary projects. In 2007 she published the first work she translated and has since translated over 50 novels and short story collections, among them works by Nobel Literature Laureates Wole Soyinka and Naguib Mahfouz. Understanding the importance of translation, in 2015 she began hosting an annual literary translation competition among young Mozambicans, which led to the establishment of her publishing house Editora Trinta Zero Nove. The press and its founder have received the London Book Fair International Excellence Award for Literary Translation Initiatives (2021), the BOP Children’s Books Publisher of the Year (2023), and were finalists for Brazil’s Jabuti Award. Sandra received a Looren Excellence Award in 2025 and a PEN Translates Award in 2022 for Tchanaze by Carlos Paradona. Her translation Beneath the Scar (Bento Sitoi) was among Brittle Paper’s 100 Notable African Books of the Year in 2025, and her translation Loose Ties (Yara Monteiro) was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award in 2023.