Hola!

I am an award-winning literary translator based in Melbourne, Australia.

I translate mainly prose (fiction and non-fiction) from Spanish to English.

I have eight published book-length translations to date, some of which have won prizes; and I’ve translated quite a few short stories, essays and the odd poem in literary journals and anthologies.

If you’re looking for a translator (of entire works, chapters, samples, essays, etc. from Spanish …), or someone to do a reader’s report on a work in Spanish that you are considering for publication, please get in touch.

I am also an interviewer, moderator, commentator/lecturer and academic researcher (Spanish literatures and cultures).

I give talks on Spain-related and translation topics and organise and participate in visits to Australia by Spanish-speaking writers.

Languages: I’m fluent in English and Spanish, and have varying levels of fluency in Czech, French, German, Catalan, and Italian.

I am currently President of the Australian Association for Literary Translation (AALITRA), an organisation which hosts and promotes events, awards and achievements to do with literary translations and translators. ⇩

Biography

I am multilingual and multi-cultural, and this is reflected in my professional and personal interests. My book-length translations include my most recently published translation Crossing Waters (2024, Luisa Etxenike), the bestselling The Librarian of Auschwitz (2017, Antonio Iturbe), two futuristic novels by Rosa Montero -Tears in Rain (2012), and Weight of the Heart. (2016) - a novel based on the life and times of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Prince of the Skies (2019, Antonio Iturbe), and Australian Connection (2019, multiple authors), a trilingual anthology featuring short texts by Spanish writers reflecting on their visits to Australia.

My career as a literary translator began seriously after I finally retired as a full-time academic in 2011.

My academic career path crosses several international borders. I began learning Spanish at McGill University in Canada, and completed my PhD at the University of Toronto, specialising in the work of contemporary Spanish women writers.

After several years as a tutor in the Spanish Departments at the Universities of Toronto & Calgary, I moved to Australia in 1981. That saw the start of almost thirty years as an academic at La Trobe University, including periods as Head of the Spanish Program and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences.

After a brief period of retirement, I returned to La Trobe for eighteen months as Acting Director of the Academic Language and Learning Unit, overseeing the implementation of the Unit's restructure. In 2011, I became an Honorary member of the university, and in October 2022, was named an Adjunct Professor (Spanish Studies), with a focus on literary translation.

In 2016, I was awarded Spain’s Cross of the Order of Civil Merit for my promotion of Spanish literatures and cultures in Australia.

For more information on my Academic career, see here