What drew you to Words Without Borders (and literature in translation more generally)? What is your personal relationship to language and translation?

I have known of Words Without Borders for as long as I’ve known about literary translation—everyone mentions or recommends it. When I was living in Cairo, one of the courses I took involved reading an Arabic-language text every night and discussing it in class the next day. That process of critical reading and discussion made me curious about editing, so I set out to learn more about it. Then when this opportunity came up, it was the perfect role and perfect timing.

Attending BCLT and Bristol Translates summer schools certainly crystallized my interest in literary translation as a career route. Studying languages at school and then at university, I always felt as though we were gently pushed toward being a teacher or a translator—and when people said “translator” they almost certainly meant interpreter!—so I guess my curiosity about translation was delayed because of that, as I didn’t truly know what it was. Attending literary translation summer schools and having lively debates about the tiniest details—like whether a character is looking from “left to right” or “right to left”—has helped me see how fascinating literary translation is. It certainly fits into my wider relationship with language, as I’ve always been so curious about language and how it works: my high school Spanish teacher always called me a grammarian, which is how I learned that word. As I’ve grown older, I’ve been grateful to expand that curiosity beyond the classroom and out into the world, and now on the page.

Could you share some of your favorite books and/or writers? What do you look for in a great book?

My all-time favorite book is probably Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde. It simultaneously feels like the most personal text, and wide-open arms. Which is exactly what I needed when I first read it, and I think did a lot for my articulation of texts I have enjoyed reading since. The way she writes about the lesbian experience is particularly what marked this as a formative text for me, and one I keep returning to—keeping the book by my bedside makes sense somehow. Whenever I return to Zami it feels like a balm to read Lorde’s accounts of where, how, and with whom she has lived. Lorde classified the book as a biomythography, and that is exactly what it is: a collection of myths, a personal biography.

Another book that is always, if only latently, on my mind is Raja Shehadeh’s Language of War, Language of Peace: Palestine, Israel and the Search for Justice. I bought it in the Educational Bookshop in Jerusalem because I was drawn to the linguistic exploration of the occupation in the media, as I feel that the role language plays in the oppression of Palestine is too often unaddressed. I find that the book articulates the damage done by unspoken conventions in the language used to refer to Palestine and what is being done to the land and people. I was grateful to watch Shehadeh in conversation with Isabella Hammad, whose book Enter Ghost I greatly enjoyed for its skillful weaving in of theatrical elements and excerpts. I took a photo with Shehadeh at the signing afterward, and I think I’m the happiest anyone has ever looked in a photo!

You bring editorial and education experience to WWB, but you’re also a literary translator of Arabic and Spanish into English. How do you choose the authors and texts you translate? Is there a particular kind of work you’re drawn to?

What I look for in a great story is a sharp commentary on the world we live in, with a narrative—whether personal, as in Language of War, Language of Peace and Zami, or fictional, as in Enter Ghost—woven into it. I enjoy being fully immersed in the world of the story while being challenged to consider the context in which it was written. I am currently translating Ana Harcha’s play Palestina irreversible, Palestina in-existente, and was drawn to this text because it traverses the idea of heritage across continents and generations. I enjoy a story (and this includes the TV shows and movies I like most) that has both feet on the ground of its world—whether that is a world I’m familiar with or a new one. And that can include comedy! There is always room for humor.

Are there languages, themes, or genres that you’re eager to see more of in English translation?

I’d love to see more theater in translation! I translate theater myself, and I certainly came to do that through meeting other theater translators rather than through coming across excerpts of plays in translation. I’d love to see more excerpts of plays in literary magazines, as that may well change the access playwrights and translators have to publishing and producing whole plays. I’m also interested in translating more texts written in Arabic dialects, rather than Modern Standard Arabic. They’re so rich in a completely different way, and could put a spotlight on a wholly different set of writers and Arabic speakers.

Beyond literature and translation, what are your passions and interests?

I really enjoy writing about theater. I used to write for other publications, but I recently set up my own Substack where I can write reviews and reflections on my own domain, so I’ve been enjoying that. I also really enjoy facilitating creative translation and speech writing workshops as a way to continue working with young people. I love to cycle and hike, too, and bake! A secret pipe dream of mine is to become a baker, translating recipe books as I go.

Elete Nelson-Fearon is a translator, editor, and educator working between Arabic, Spanish, and English. Elete is the 2024-25 editorial fellow at Words Without Borders and is currently completing the Foreign Affairs theatre translation mentorship, where she is translating a Palestinian-Chilean play. In 2023, Elete completed the CASA fellowship in advanced Arabic at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and, consolidating her experience as a secondary school teacher, has presented her research into Arabic pedagogy for heritage speakers at the International TAFL Conference held at AUC. Elete has translated, and facilitated workshops around, plays from Mexico, Egypt, Cuba, Palestine, and Spain. She is an alumna of the Soho Writers’ Lab, and independently writes theatre reviews at elete.substack.com.