Alastair McEwen

Alastair McEwen is a British translator who has made the philosophy and criticism of Umberto Eco and Italian-language writers available to the English-speaking world. His work includes translations of Eco's Kant and the Platypus — a witty enquiry into the limits of similarity — and Tiepolo Pink by Roberto Calasso.

A veteran literary translator based in Italy, McEwen has rendered dozens of major contemporary Italian authors, from Calvino's circle to modern novelists and poets. His translations are praised for preserving both the scholarly precision and the playful fluency of the originals.