FdE Writer Series — Laura McGloughlin
LAURA MCGLOUGHLIN — Our new Writer Series asks our writers a few questions about their careers, working process, highs and lows and one or two other things - we hope you enjoy this little insight into the people behind our wonderful books.
1. How did you get into translating?
It all started when I walked into the wrong classroom as an ERASMUS student at the Universitat de Barcelona. I entered a class thinking it was about literature, only to discover it was a translation module and I was too embarrassed to leave! The students were translating an excerpt of Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck into Catalan and Spanish, and I absolutely loved it. So I did a couple more modules, and one of the lecturers recommended the Masters in Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia, and I enrolled after finishing my undergraduate degree. While attending the summer school there, quite by chance I fell into conversation with the editor who gave me my first translation, and it went from there.
2. Any highs or lows of your translation career so far?
Highs: the BCLT mentorship with Peter Bush ten years ago was instrumental in helping me develop as a translator. Also last year, working on two of Bel Olid's books concurrently - one for FdE - was both challenging and utterly joyous, and an experience I'd love to repeat.
3. Which author(s) is/are on your dream translation wish list?
There are so many! But I'd settle for either of the authors I'm currently reading: Marta Carnicero Hernanz, whose latest book Matrioixques so far is a tough but incredible read, and Marc Cerrudo Boada, whose debut novel Lluny vol dir mai més explores loss but has an undercurrent of dark humour throughout. I'd love to put my translator's brain to work on their books.
4. Please tell us about your translation process: do you listen to anything while you work? If so, what? And where do you most like to translate?
I've translated just about everywhere, on the London Tube, in bed, on a beach...but my preferred set-up is more conventional: at my desk, dictionaries within reach, as well as paper and pencil to jot down flashes of inspiration, usually with a cooling cup of tea. What I listen to depends on where I am with a text - in early drafts it tends to be Bach, because I can't focus if there are lyrics and I find the counterpoint in Baroque music helpful. In later drafts or when editing I can sometimes listen to a podcast or familiar music as that can help me pinpoint the voices of the characters. If a character mentions a specific song or album I often feel the urge to listen to that. But really it depends on the text.
5. Any peeves about the publishing industry? Anything you would change?
Obviously the big one here is the state of translated literature published in English - it's somewhere between three and five per cent of books published annually at the moment - so I would certainly like to see that increase. There is also a sense that some of the bigger publishing houses feel that a box has been ticked if they already have one translated book on their list for that year, and are sometimes reluctant to find more; the smaller, independent publishers like FdE are much more nimble and quick to jump on great literature.
Sometimes, although not always by any means, translators are made to feel like a necessary evil in the course of publishing, rather than that book's greatest ambassador, so that mindset is something I'd like to change.
6. Three songs that sum you up?
This is even harder than imagining my Desert Island Discs! After much humming and hawing, I'll go for Feeling Good by Nina Simone, Blues Run the Game by Jackson C Frank, and La flaca by Jarabe del Palo.
Laura McGloughlin is the translator of WILDER WINDS
