How I(t) Work(s): Literary Translation
Located in the Rotunda, Casa d’Italia
With:
- Chloé Savoie-Bernard
- Rachel Martinez
- Pablo Strauss
Moderated by Katie Grubisic
Quebec is a hotbed of literary translation. Many of our best translators are also writers, and many of our writers want to see their books translated, hopingwanting to reach their fellow Quebecers who read in the other official language. But how does it work? If you have a translation project in mind, how do you get it onto the page? And how do you get your new book, published in English, translated and published in French? Winner of the Governor-General’s Literary Award for French-to-English Translation, local poet and editor Katia Grubisic will lead a discussion with three established translators working from French to English (Pablo Strauss) and English to French (Rachel Martinez and Chloé Savoie-Bernard). Learn how the business of translation works, and the art of translation as well. Bring your curiosity to the Q&A.
Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor, and translator. Her work has won the Gerald Lampert award, the Cole Foundation Prize for Translation, and the Governor General’s Award for translation, and been shortlisted for the A.M. Klein Prize.
Rachel Martinez worked for many years in the fields of arts and communications before devoting herself exclusively to translation. A polyglot, she has translated (from English, Spanish, and Italian) more than 130 works in a variety of genres for renowned French-language publishers, including novels, short stories, non-fiction, arts catalogues, biographies, essays, and children’s literature. She has organized events and served on numerous literary prize juries, roundtables, conferences, and translation residencies both in Canada and abroad. Rachel Martinez represented the Literary Translators’ Association of Canada on the advisory committee of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre from 2018 until its dissolution in 2020. Among other awards and honors, she was a two-time finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award in French Translation, which she won for Glenn Gould, une vie (Boréal) in 2005.
Chloé Savoie-Bernard occupe un poste de professeure de littérature à l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Chercheuse, autrice et traductrice, elle a entre autres, publié Des femmes savantes (Triptyque, 2016) et Sainte Chloé de l’amour (Hexagone, 2021). Parmi ses traductions, notons Voix/Éclairs/Tonnerres, de Myriam Chancy (Remue-ménage, 2023), de même que Sister Love, une correspondance entre Audre Lorde et Pat Parker, (Points, 2024). Sa dernière traduction est la pièce de Ntozake Shange, Aux filles de couleur qui ont déjà pensé au suicide (Payot, 2026).
Pablo Strauss’s many translations from Quebec include novels, personal essays, nonfiction, and comics. He is a three-time finalist for the Governor General’s Award for translation, and has published book reviews, shorter translations, and personal essays in Harpers, Geist, Granta, and the Montreal Review of Books. Pablo grew up in Victoria, B.C., and has now lived in Quebec City for two decades.