by Adriana Dominguez
I want to first thank ALSC for inviting me to join this blog; I am very honored and happy to know that they recognize Rayo children’s efforts to better serve our children by providing them with meaningful Latino and Spanish language literature. I am also glad to have made so many supportive friends in the library community. Each and every one of my chats with librarians across the country has provided me with a great deal of insight, and always, a sense of purpose. I look forward to chatting with you some more in person at conferences and elsewhere, and to receiving your comments and ideas on this blog. Also, a disclaimer: This is my first blog, ever, so please bear with me!
I chose to write my first blog now because it is my favorite season: award season! A time when authors and editors rejoice in the fruit of the labors, and when inevitably, we are met with some surprises! And this year was no exception, was it? The Caldecott given to a novel, and the Pura Belpré to a work of poetry! Will wonders never cease? Editors across the country are scratching their heads, wondering what this all means, if it signals a new trend, or if librarians are making a conscious effort to reward quality and novelty, which would not be altogether surprising; what are awards for, if not to reward excellence in craft, and originality? I am happy with this year’s award results. Publisher’s Weekly called THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET “a masterpiece,” and I, for one agree. The book is stunning; both visually and in terms of narrative. It does not underestimate young reader’s imaginations and reclaims a rightful place for books in this age of multimedia.
THE POET SLAVE OF CUBA’s wonderful use of verse will hopefully revive a genre that continues to be problematic for teachers, librarians, and publishers. Poetry? Who would think poetry would garner this much interest today? Poets across the nation celebrate! Librarians will continue to support you, and that means that children across the country will have an opportunity to recite your beautiful words!
On a more personal note, I was thrilled to learn that Monica Brown’s latest book also received a prize; the Pura Belpré Honor for illustration. Raíºl Colí³n’s images once again graced the pages of a children’s book to help make yet another lucky author’s words come alive. The personal nature of this award, for me, has to do with the fact that I too have now had the chance to work with the wonderfully talented Ms. Brown. Rayo will publish her first book with HarperCollins Children’s Books in winter of 2009: PELí‰, KING OF SOCCER/PELí‰, EL REY DEL FíšTBOL, a biography of the soccer great, to add to Monica’s stunningly beautiful collection of picture book biographies, thanks to the dynamic and colorful illustrations of Rudy Gutiérrez. Keep an eye out for that one, my fellow bloggers, I promise it won’t disappoint!
I have also been very fortunate this past year to work with other amazingly talented award-winning authors and illustrators, such as Pat Mora, Rafael Lí³pez, and Joe Cepeda. I want you to know about what Rayo has coming up, and I want you to tell your fellow librarians, and your friends, because for me, managing Rayo is truly a labor of love. I remember arriving in the US when I was 12 years old and rushing to learn English as quickly as I could so that I could get my hands on some of the wonderful literature written in that language. But I also never stopped reading in Spanish.
Today, I feel extremely fortunate to be bilingual, and bicultural, and my mission at Rayo, as I see it, is to pass on this wonderful gift to a new generation of bilingual and bicultural Latino children. Please join us, and join me! The next generation deserves nothing less than the best! And again, please don’t hesitate to send me your comments and ideas; tell me about the wonderful authors and illustrators I should know about. What you like, and what you don’t like. What you see working in your libraries, and what most definitely does not. I am all ears.
‘Til next time ALSC!
Teresa Walls
Thanks, Adriana, for joining the ranks of ALSC bloggers! I really appreciate you and the rest of the ALSC bloggers for taking time from your busy schedules to share your thoughts and experiences with readers of this blog.
I do have a question for you regarding translation. As a bilingual reader, do you find that it is true that much is lost in translation? Do you work mostly with authors who are also bilingual or do you find translators as well?
Adriana Dominguez Post author
This is a very good question. I am glad you asked it because most folks worry about what is “lost in translation.” When it comes to children’s books, many worry about the quality of those translations as well. I am proud to say that Rayo Children’s translations have received many kudos, especially from librarians! Criticas magazine recently added many of Rayo’s translations to their “Best Books of 2007” list due to their high quality; an unprecedented event, since they generally include only original Spanish titles on that list. This makes me particularly happy, because I know how important a good translation is, especially to a child who may just be learning how to read, so I place special emphasis on that in my work.
My first response to your question has to be that regardless of minor losses, more would be lost by not reading a book in translation in the first place! How would we know about other cultures, or try to understand them and learn about them, without our precious translations?
Although it’s true that some elements of a text may be lost in translation, a good translator and a good editor will try to minimize those losses. I certainly try to. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with talented translators, such as Liliana Valenzuela, who has translated the work of Sandra Cisneros among others, and with whom the process of polishing a translation becomes a deliciously challenging task. Finding just the right word to convey the meaning of the original is a process that can sometimes take hours, even days! But I so love doing it, and doing it as a team makes it all the more enjoyable. It is impossible not to become friends with the translators you work with; you are embarking on a journey of discovery together, always thinking of the reader, of the various possible interpretations of individual words, or whole sentences. One very good example of this is the fact that Latinos hailing from different Spanish-speaking countries may have different meanings for the same word, and some of those may not be very harmless to boot! So with Spanish in particular, it is important to not only be familiar with the language, but also with different cultural interpretations of the text.
I work with many bilingual authors, and they always become a part of the process, even when they choose to leave the translation to me. That helps tremendously of course, because only the author can really explain the intent of his or her own words. In cases where the author is not bilingual, he or she must truly trust the translator, and the translator must in turn be willing to take the editor’s comments into account, something that all good translators do, since they know better than anyone that translation is a process. The end result is always cause for celebration! It is the end of an arduous and immensely gratifying task, which in my case, provides me with the satisfying knowledge that young Spanish readers have just been granted access to an entirely new array of books! Also important, of course, is the fact that those books are often the ones that English readers are already familiar with, so that Latino children can share in that experience in their process of acculturation.
All in all, a translation will never replace the original, true, but when done well, it will certainly make you feel like you haven’t missed a thing!
Teresa
Thanks for such a thoughtful response, Adriana! You know, I’m uncertain how many people have an RSS feed for comments or click on the “Read Recent Comments” link on the sidebar. If it is o.k. with you, I might just post this as another entry. What do you think?