MARTHA KING received her Ph.D. in Italian from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her articles and translations appeared in many periodicals in the U.S. and England. She had a special interest in Italian women writers and was instrumental in bringing many of them to the attention of two generations of English-speaking audiences around the world.
King’s books include translations of Cosima by Grazia Deledda, with Introduction (Italica Press, 1988); Family Chronicle by Vasco Pratolini, with Introduction (Italica Press, 1988); New Italian Women: A Collection of Short Fiction, edited, with translations and introduction (Italica Press, 1989); Elias Portolu by Grazia Deledda, with introduction and notes (Quartet Books, 1992 and Northwestern University Press, 1995); Zibaldone by Giacomo Leopardi (a selection), with introduction, in collaboration with Daniela Bini (Peter Lang, 1992); Chiaroscuro, Short Stories by Grazia Deledda, (Quartet Books, 1994).
Other translations include Teresa by Neera (Northwestern University Press, 1998) Reeds in the Wind by Grazia Deledda (Italica Press, 1999), and After the War: A Collection of Short Fiction by Post-War Italian Women (Italica Press, 2004). Her Husband by Luigi Pirandello, in collaboration with Mary Ann Frese Witt, was published by Duke University Press in 2000. A translation of short stories by Anna Banti, in collaboration with Carol Lazzaro-Weis, was published in the Modern Language Association Translation Series, 2001. With Steerforth Press she published Darkness by Dacia Maraini (2002), My Name a Living Memory by Giorgio van Straten (2003) and Voices from the Past by Silvia Bonucci (2004).
In recent years Dr. King turned her attention to the work of Gianna Manzini, publishing with Italica Press Game Plan for a Novel (2008) and Full-Length Portrait (2011). She also wrote a biography of Grazia Deledda.
Martha King lived in Tuscany for nearly three decades. She died in 2011.
