Category: On Being Translated
June, 2012
How “To Algeria, with Love” became “La Repubblica di Wally”
Einaudi bought the Italian rights to my novel before it had an English language publisher, editor, or even a title. Work on the translation began last summer, around the time the book was published in the UK by Virago as To Algeria, with Love. As luck would have it, my husband and I were in southern…...
September, 2011
On Being Translated from English to English, by Way of Spanish
I was born into Spanish but grew up in English. I was born in Guatemala and lived there until we moved to South Florida with my family, the day of my tenth birthday, in August of 1981, and I immediately fell into this new sound, into this new identity, called English. I grew up in English. Discovered…...
August, 2011
On Being Translated: To Be Written in English
There he was. The Main Character. The description of him. All the words, verbs, nouns, pronouns, syllables. I knew them all. Already. But only in Danish. Not this way around. Because here he was, The Main Character, in English. So much the same. But still so different. In some ways much more classy—but…...
May, 2011
Through the Looking Glass, and What the Author Saw after Being Translated
Until I was published, I viewed my stories as my own, personal things, extensions of my mind that could be compared to an article of clothing, changed according to the day and season; or, perhaps, some easily alterable part of my anatomy, like my nails, or hair, things we do, let grow, and that even…...
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