The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2018 - 22

A CONVERSATION WITH MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL
PRIZE WINNER JESSICA COHEN continued

How long are these plays?
The plays are approximately 6,000
words. We work on the entire translation
together, rather than each working
separately and then discussing our
versions. It has been a good strategy.

workshop each other's texts. It was a
good experience, but it wasn't really
the same as working with
a co-translator.

How do you envision life after the Man
Booker International Prize?

David Grossman is
exceptional in his appreciation
of his translators.

Can you imagine working this closely with
someone else?
I can't think of anyone else I would
like to work with, but I would be
willing to give it a try. Evan and I
work well together. We come with
our own ideas and see things in
different ways, and I think this
method of working together has made
both of us more open-minded and
flexible than just working on our
own. Evan and I don't have big
egos, but we're both pretty confident.
We do argue about things, but there
are never any hurt feelings. I actually
miss it when I'm working on my own
without a sounding board.

Had you ever worked as part of a translation
team previously?
After graduate school, I attended
a two-week summer literary translation
workshop at Skidmore College with
John Felstiner (1936-2017), who was
professor emeritus of English at Stanford
University and an award-winning poetry
scholar and translator. [Felstiner was the
2001 recipient of ATA's Ungar German
Translation Award for his translation
of the Selected Poems and Prose of
Paul Celan.] There were translators
participating who worked in several
different language pairs. We would
meet for a few hours each day and

The ATA Chronicle | May/June 2018

It took a while for me to become an
established literary translator, but
now I'm booked out a year in advance.
I can pick and choose the projects
on which I want to work, but even
now I can't support myself with
literary translation. Last year the
Authors' Guild sent out a survey
seeking information on the working
conditions of literary translators. The
results of this survey show that literary
translators are underpaid and struggle
financially. If my husband didn't
have a good job, I couldn't afford to
be a literary translator.

Thank you, Jessica, for making the time
for this interview. I know that Evan is
arriving tomorrow and you two have to
start working on your co-translation
project immediately, so we are especially
grateful that you were willing to make
yourself available. And once again,
congratulations on the Man Booker
International Prize!
Lois Feuerle is a past ATA
director and the chair of the
Honors and Awards Committee.
She has worked on a variety
of ATA committees over the
years, including the Dictionary
Review Committee and Ethics Committee.
Currently, she serves on ATA's Editorial Board for
The ATA Chronicle and on the Literary Division's
Leadership Council. She is a founding member
and current president of the Oregon Society of
Translators and Interpreters. She is also an ATAcertified German>English translator. Contact:
loismariefeuerle@cs.com.

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