Sarah Elizabeth Ruden is an American writer, classics scholar, and translator. She is a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been described as 'One of our leading interpreters of ancient literature'.
Early life and education
Sarah Ruden was born in Ohio in 1962 and raised in the United Methodist Church.
[ The God of Running Water. Lapham's Quarterly. Retrieved June 4, 2021.] She holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars and a Ph.D. in Classical Philology from Harvard University.
Her doctoral thesis was
Toward a typology of humor in the Satyricon of Petronius, and was awarded in 1993.
Career
In addition to her academic appointments, Ruden has worked as a medical editor, a contributor to American periodicals,
[ Muck Rack profile: Sarah Ruden] and a stringer for the South African investigative magazine
Noseweek.
[ Johns Hopkins Magazine Alumni spotlight: Sarah Ruden]
Ruden became an activist Quaker during her ten years spent in post-apartheid South Africa, where she was a tutor for the South African Education and Environment Project.[ Thoughts on Mda, Ndebele and Black South African Writing at the Millennium The Iowa Review. Retrieved June 4, 2021.][ The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread. Plough Quarterly. Retrieved June 4, 2021.] Both before and after her return to the United States in 2005, Ruden has engaged in ecumenical outreach and published a number of articles and essays, in both liberal and conservative publications.[ Commonweal Magazine authors: Sarah Ruden][ Sarah Ruden, National Review]
In 2008, Ruden became the first woman to publish a full translation of the Aeneid into English.
Ruden is an advocate for the popularization of ancient texts.[ Response: Ruden on Clayton on Ruden. Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved June 4, 2021.] She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania since 2018.[ UPenn People: Sarah Ruden]
Awards
In 2010, Ruden was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to fund her translation of the
Oresteia.
She won a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant to complete her translation of
The Confessions of Augustine in 2016.
[ Whiting Nonfiction Creative Grantees] Her translation of the Gospels was funded in part by a Robert B. Silvers Grant for Work in Progress in 2019.
[ Robert B. Silvers Grant for Work in Progress Award Winners]
Personal life
Ruden has been a “convinced Friend,” or
Quaker convert, since 1992. Her Quakerism informs her translation methodology.
[ The Sacred Bonds of Sound. Plough Quarterly. Retrieved June 4, 2021.][ Books about Life: Translating Ancient Texts in 2021. An Interview with the Biblical Translator Sarah Ruden. Friends Journal. Retrieved June 4, 2021.][ Sarah Ruden on the Nature of Translation. The Reeds. Retrieved June 4, 2021.]
Selected publications
Books
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Perpetua. The Woman, The Martyr (Yale: Yale University Press, 2025)
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Vergil. The Poet's Life (Yale: Yale University Press, 2023)
Poetry
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I Am the Arrow. The Life & Art of Sylvia Plath in Six Poems (Library of America, 2025)
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(Awarded the 1996 Central News Agency Literary Award)
Translations
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The Gospels. A New Translation (Modern Library, 2023)
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Aeschylus (2016). Oresteia, in The Greek Plays (ed. Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm). Modern Library.
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Plato (2015). Hippias Minor or The Art of Cunning: A new translation of Plato’s most controversial dialogue (trans.) . With introduction and artwork by Paul Chan; essay by Richard Fletcher. Badlands Unlimited and the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art.
[ Review by Roslyn Weiss. Brill. Retrieved June 4, 2021.]
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Anonymous (2021). The Gospels (trans.) Modern Library.
[ Penguin House Website]
Biblical interpretation
