Mission

After devouring multiple French books by queer authors, I am struck with how few are available to the English-speaking audience. Of course there are widely available stories of modern queer-ness, but often they are reduced to cis and heteronormative stories that are widely available and easily digested. As I begin swimming deeper into the translation pool, I hope to carefully curate a deep sense of diversity and inclusion in the works that I take the most interest in. Of course I enjoy the more palatable works, who wouldn’t, that is like saying no to a hot fudge sundae. But as more voices are raised up the same way tentpole blockbusters are raised up in the film industry, independent and unique voices need their time on the red carpet too. I hope to share the stories that resonate with me so deeply and purely; stories that change my perspective, stories that gnaw at my being, stories that make me laugh, all in all, a good book. That is what I look for when I’m getting ready to translate. Something within me that says “this book belongs on every shelf” not only for the views to be shared with a carefree reader, but more importantly with someone that might stumble upon the translation I’ve done and resonate with the French-speaking author’s voice and soul. Something that translates through time and space, speaking a uniform language of love and belonging. That is my mission. Something I need to remember when writing: these words will have gravity for a reader, that the reader will transform these words into a thought that will become part of their soul. The same way the source words become a part of me. The latest book that has propelled me to such thought is On n’a que deux vies, Journal d’un transboy by Adel Tincelin. I have been cast into the fairy forest that Adel thrives in and have been transmogrified into the steadfast translator I have been yearning to be for so long now. This work needs to be shared. It has made me think about myself in a different light, nay, in the same light I have always been in—that I lost. So I will soon sit down to translate and reflect on how to best give Adel’s voice to an English-speaking reader. And I vibrate with excitement at the opportunity to do so. As the pink light of the sunset withers into darkness, the stars begin flickering in the sky as my computer’s blue light reflects off my glistening, wistful eyes. Typing the first words of a new translation.