Ruth Clarke and Annie McDermott Chaired by Polly Barton

Two literary translators, Ruth Clarke and Annie McDermott, share and debate their English versions of the same text, a short passage drawn from contemporary Spanish literature. The two will compare their choices, revealing the reasoning behind them and the creative machinations of the translator’s mind.

The text under discussion will be an exclusive excerpt from a so far unseen short story by the celebrated Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vasquez, which has not even been published in Spanish yet.The translation slam is a format rapidly gaining popularity at literary festivals around the world. It offers a glimpse into the overarching and nitty-gritty choices of the translator and is a must for anyone interested in language, translation and international literature.

Clarke works from Italian, French and Spanish, and has translated an eclectic range of work by authors from Benin to Venezuela, including Cristina Caboni’s debut novel The Secret Ways of Perfume, Aurora Lassaletta Atienza’s memoir The Invisible Brain Injury and Evelina Santangelo’s haunting novel From Another World. She is the translator in residence for Durham University and New Writing North. McDermott is a literary translator working from Spanish and Portuguese into English. Her translations include Empty Words and The Luminous Novel by Mario Levrero, Dead Girls and Brickmakers by Selva Almada, The Rooftop by Fernanda Trías and Wars of the Interior by Joseph Zárate. Discussions are chaired by Polly Barton, translator in residence at Queen’s College Oxford.

In association with Queen’s College Translation Exchange and TORCH as part of the Humanities Cultural Programme. The Translation Exchange is a literary translation centre whose mission is to inspire lifelong engagement in languages and international culture and, in particular, to inspire young language-learners to continue with their studies through their schooling and beyond.

This event lasts one hour and 15 minutes.

The event is part of the festival’s programme of Spanish and Latin American literature and culture.