Sandra Smith was born and raised in New York City. As an undergraduate, she spent one year studying at the Sorbonne and fell in love with Paris. Immediately after finishing her BA, she was accepted to do a Master’s Degree at New York University, in conjunction with the Sorbonne, and so lived in Paris for another year. After completing her MA, she moved to Cambridge, where she began supervising in 20th Century French Literature, Modern French Drama and Translation at the University. Soon afterwards, she was accepted to study for a PhD at Clare College, researching the Surrealist Theatre in France between the two World Wars. Sandra Smith taught French Literature and Language at Robinson College, University of Cambridge for many years. and lives in Minneapolis but continues to teach for NYU remotely. She has been a guest lecturer and professor at Columbia University, Harvard and Sarah Lawrence College. She is now teaching a Masters Course in Translation in NYU. She has translated 12 novels by Nemirovsky including Suite Francaise which won the PEN Translation Award and the Florence Gould French American Ward. But you did not come back by Marceline Loridan-Ivens also won the 2016 National Jewish Book Award for best Biography, Autobiography or Memoir.

• Recent book translations :
2021, Sigrand et Sip’tit by Jacques Lederer; The Hudson Review, Spring Issue
2021, Les Inséparables (Inseparable) by Simone de Beauvoir, Ecco Publications
2021, L’Enfant génial (The Prodigal Child) by Irène Némirovsky, Kales Press
2021, La Rafle des Notables (In the Shadow of Paris) by Anne Sinclair, Kales Press
2020, Alice Asks the Big Questions, (published in French under the title: Et tu trouveras le trésor qui dort en toi) by Laurent Gounelle, Little Brown
2020, Appeal to Doctors Fighting the Plague (Exhortation aux médecins) by Albert Camus, Vintage International
2020, From Chicago to New Orleans by Philippe Besson, (Contributor) in America, edited by F. Busnel, Grove Atlantic
2019, The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories: From Hans Christian Andersen to Angela Carter (Contributor) “Noël” by Irène Némirovsky, Penguin Classics
2019, Create Dangerously by Albert Camus, Knopf/Vintage
2019, Jacques Schiffrin: A Publisher in Exile by Amos Reichman, Columbia Univ. Press
2018, Found in Translation, (Contributor) We Once Were Happy by Irène Némirovsky, Apollo, UK
2017, A Very French Christmas, (Contributor) “Noël” by Irène Némirovsky, New Vessel Press, USA,
2017, Music and Literature Magazine: Articles on Eric Chevillard: Introduction by Olivier Bessard-Banquy and Pierre Jourde, and Chevillard Lecteur by Anne Roche
2017, Don’t Worry, Life is Easy, Agnès Martin-Lugand (Weinstein Books, USA) – La Vie Facile (Michel Lafon, France, 2015)
2016, Pocahontas: Princess of the New World a Graphic Novel by Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky (Pegasus, USA)
2016, The Stranger adapted as a graphic novel by Jacques Ferrandez (Pegasus, USA)
2016, But you did not come back, Marceline Loridan-Ivens (Grove Atlantic, USA /Faber & Faber UK) – Et tu n’es pas revenue (Grasset, France, 2015)
2016, Happy People Read and Drink Coffee, Agnès Martin-Lugand ( Weinstein Books, USA) – Les Gens heureux lisent et boivent du café (Pocket, France, 2014)
2015, The Fires of Autumn, Irène Némirovsky (Chatto & Windus, UK, 2014, Knopf/Vintage, USA) 2015 – Les feux d’automne (Albin Michel, France, 2014)
2015, A Taste for Happiness, Michel David-Weil (CreateSpace) – L’Esprit en fête (Robert Lafont, France, 2007)
2015, The Necklace and Other stories: Maupassant for Modern Times, (Liveright, USA)