Emily Wilson Announces New Translation of Homer's Odyssey

Emily Wilson, the classicist who became the first woman to translate Homer's "The Odyssey" into English, is undertaking a complete retranslation of the epic poem less than a decade after her acclaimed 2017 version became a bestseller. Wilson announced the project in a statement on August 28, 2026, describing it as a fresh start rather than a revision of her earlier work. The new translation will be published by WW Norton, the same house that released her original version, which has sold more than one million copies. Wilson, who chairs the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, said the project is already about halfway complete and is expected to take a few years to finish. She explained that the new approach will be closer to the method she used for her later translation of "The Iliad," employing more lines than the original poem to allow for greater variation in word length, pacing, and tonal variation. The edition will also feature significantly more extensive endnotes. Wilson's 2017 translation was widely praised for its clarity and accessibility, introducing Homer's tale to a new generation of readers.