Translator, journalist, lecturer
Spanish, Catalan, English, Italian, French.
I studied Translation and Interpreting (Autonomous University of Barcelona, 1991) and Journalism (Pompeu Fabra University and University of Leeds, 1994) and since 1989 I have worked as a translator, while also reporting and lecturing. I have won the Esther Benítez Award, the Astrid Lindgren Prize and the Antifaz Award.
I have translated over 400 titles, alone or in collaboration with other colleagues. I focus on fiction, essays, graphic novels and illustrated books. I am also a member of Barcelona Kontext, a team of translators who specialise in exhibition projects and art books.
I write about translation for publications such as Vasos Comunicantes, Estudios de Traducción, Panacea and El Trujamán at Centro Virtual Cervantes. I was co-editor of Dos.Dos magazine and I have contributed to Out, El País, El Temps and Granta en Español.
I started teaching in 1992 at the University of the West Indies and from 2012 to 2022 I was a lecturer on the Master’s Degree in Literary and Audiovisual Translation at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. I currently teach translation at Penguin Random House’s Cursiva school. I have given numerous workshops and lectures on different aspects of literary and creative translation at universities and conferences.
Fiction and Non-fiction
Over the years, I have translated contemporary authors such as Tom Wolfe, Doris Lessing, Andrea Camilleri, Chuck Palahniuk, Paolo Giordano, Bruce Chatwin, Roberto Saviano and Toni Morrison, and also classics by Vita Sackville-West, Saki, Emilio Salgari, Thomas Hardy, Gianni Rodari, John Steinbeck, Carlo Collodi, Oscar Wilde, Somerset Maugham, Rudyard Kipling and Albert Camus.
I work for publishing houses large and small, such as Lumen, Salamandra, Galaxia Gutenberg, Sajalín, Sexto Piso, Finestres, Nórdica, Comanegra, Anagrama, Minúscula, Gustavo Gili, Ediciones Invisibles, Navona, Turner, Libros del Zorro Rojo, Edicions 62, :Rata_ and Blackie Books.
Prizes, Fellowships and Residencies
In 2023 I won the Antifaz Award to a Career in Translation from the Salón del Cómic de Valencia and the Cátedra de Estudios del Cómic Fundación SM-Universidad de Valencia. In 2022 I received FIT‘s Astrid Lindgren Prize for a career as a translator of children’s literature. In 2017 I won the Esther Benítez Award (ACE Traductores) for my translation of Toni Morrison’s God Help the Child (Lumen). Finally, in 2011 my annotated translation of Rudyard Kipling‘s Kim (Juventud) received the Banco del Libro award for the best YA book in translation.
I have received fellowships and grants from prestigious international centres such as the Banff International Literary Translation Centre in the Canadian Rockies, the Bogliasco Foundation on the Ligurian coast, the Chalet Mauriac in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the Collège International des Traducteurs Littéraires in Arles, Übersetzerhaus Looren in the canton of Zürich and the Casa delle Traduzioni in Rome.
Assets of the Trade
Translation is an exciting undertaking that satisfies many a curiosity, but perhaps what I like most about this profession is:
Graphic Novels
I fondly remember my first professional translation, in 1989: V for Vendetta, by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. In the world of comics and graphic novels, I have translated some of the most significant authors from the second half of the twentieth century, such as Guido Crepax, Art Spiegelman, Charles Burns, Jean-Michel Charlier, Howard Cruse, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius.
I have also translated works by some of the current stars, such as Marjane Satrapi, Igort, Joe Sacco, Zerocalcare, Giorgia Marras, Nine Antico, Edward Ross, David B., Nicolas de Crécy, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Greg Pak and Tom Gauld. And also by other creators who have ventured into this field, such as Chuck Palahniuk, Darren Aronofsky and Jay Asher.
Museums and Art Centres
One of my favourite areas is that of museums and art centres. It has allowed me to learn so much since the mid-nineties, translating books on Brassaï, Piranesi, Sophie Calle and Federico Fellini, for example, often with my partners at Barcelona Kontext.
Some of my main clients are: Biennale di Venezia, Casa Asia, Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporáneo (CGAC), Daros Latinamerica, Dia Art Foundaton, Ediciones Polígrafa, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Fundación Banco Santander, Fundación Joan Miró, Fundación La Caixa, Fundación Mapfre, Grey Art Gallery – NYU, Hatje Cantz, Instituto de Cultura de Barcelona, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Jeu de Paume, [La Virreina] Centre de la Imatge, König, La Casa Encendida, Musée du Louvre, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Museo de América, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Barcelona (MACBA), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Vigo (MARCO), Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Museo de Historia de Barcelona (MUHBA) and Turner Libros.
Short Stories
The first text I ever translated was a short story by E. M. Forster, thanks to a wonderful teacher who encouraged me to delve into this world. Since then, over the years, I have translated stories by authors such as James Baldwin, Erskine Caldwell, Italo Cavino, Thomas Hardy, Grazia Deledda, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Terry Jones, Jack London, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Susan Sontag, Mark Twain and H. G. Wells for different publishers. And lately I have been lucky enough to translate Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Franzen, Rebekah Frumkin and Zadie Smith for Granta en Español.
Illustrated Books
I translate a lot of illustrated books for children, into both Spanish and Catalan, for publishers such as Kalandraka, Flamboyant, Kireei, Montena, Lata de Sal, La Locomotora and Juventud. Titles include classics by Jim Flora, Ezra Jack Keats, Terry Jones, Beatrix Potter, Gianni Rodari and Tomi Ungerer.
Associations
I am very interested in professional associations and all the work they do. At present I am a member of several committees at the Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters of Catalonia (APTIC), having been the Association’s Chair, and I have joined the Translation for Publishing Houses and Copyright Standing Committee at the International Federation of Translators (FIT), as well as Vértice Cómic at Red Vértice. I am also a member of ACE Traductores, ICOM and CEDRO.