Manya Harari

Manya Harari (née Manya Benenson) (8 April 1905 – 24 September 1969) was a British translator of Russian literature and the co-founder of Harvill Press. Her best-known work is the translation of Boris Pasternak's epic novel Doctor Zhivago, which she co-translated with Max Hayward. She also translated works by Konstantin Paustovsky, Andrey Sinyavsky, Ilya Ehrenburg and Evgenia Ginzburg, among others.

Early life Born in the Russian Empire, as the fourth child and youngest daughter of Jewish financier Grigori Benenson (1860–1939) and Sophie Goldberg (1862–1926), she migrated in 1914 with her family to London from Germany, where they had been visiting. She had three siblings, an older brother Jacob who died in a German concentration camp during the First World War, and two sisters, Flora Solomon and Fira Benenson (Countess Ilinska) who became a leading American dress designer.

Education She was educated at Malvern Girls College and at Bedford College, London, where she read history, graduating in 1924.

Manya Harari died on 24 September 1969 and was buried with her husband at East Finchley Cemetery and Crematorium.