The Giller Power Panel: Beyond Words: The Art of Translation

Eric Dupont (he/him)
Eric Dupont was born in Amqui, Quebec, in 1970. He left his native Gaspé Peninsula at age 16 for Austria and other faraway locales, returning to Quebec in 2003 to accept a position as faculty lecturer in translation at the McGill University School of Continuing Studies. His fourth novel, La Fiancée américaine, released in 2012, won the Prix des libraires du Québec and the Prix littéraire des collégiens. The English translation, Songs for the Cold of Heart by Peter McCambridge, was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2018 and subsequently published by HarperCollins USA under the title The American Fiancée. La Route du lilas hit bookshelves that same year, whisking readers away on a horticultural road trip from Brazil to Montreal and beyond. One of the hallmarks of Eric’s writing is the juxtaposition of the supernatural and real worlds. The lighthearted tone of his work often belies undercurrents of deeper themes and meanings.

Katia Grubisic (she/her)
Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor, and translator. She has been a finalist for the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry, and her collection of poems What if red ran out won the Gerald Lampert award for best first book. Her translations into English include works by Marie-Claire Blais, Nicole Brossard, David Clerson, Martine Delvaux, and Stéphane Martelly.

Peter McCambridge (he/him)
Originally from Ireland, Peter McCambridge holds a BA in modern languages from Cambridge University, England, and has lived in Quebec City since 2003. He runs Québec Reads and QC Fiction. His translations have been World Literature Today’s Notable Translations, longlisted for Canada Reads, and finalists for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award for Translation.

Rhonda Mullins (she/her)
Rhonda Mullins is a Montreal-based translator who has translated many books from French into English, including Jocelyne Saucier’s And Miles To Go Before I Sleep, Grégoire Courtois’ The Laws of the Skies, Dominique Fortier’s Paper Houses, and Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette’s Suzanne. She is a seven-time finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation, winning the award in 2015 for her translation of Jocelyne Saucier’s Twenty-One Cardinals. Novels she has translated were contenders for CBC Canada Reads in 2015 and 2019 and one was a finalist for the 2018 Best Translated Book Award. Mullins was the inaugural literary translator in residence at Concordia University in 2018. She is a mentor to emerging translators in the Banff International Literary Translation Program.

Susan Ouriou (she/her)
Susan Ouriou is an award-winning literary translator (French and Spanish to English), writer and conference interpreter. Her translation Pieces of Me won the Governor General’s award for literary translation and three other translations of hers were short-listed for that same award. Five of Susan’s translations for children and young adults have been featured on the IBBY Honour List. She is also the editor of two multilingual anthologies: Beyond Words – Translating the World and Languages of Our Land – Indigenous Poems and Stories from Quebec. Susan was one of the co-founders of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre and served as its director and as a consulting translator as well as on its advisory council. She also translated and interpreted for the Banff Centre’s bilingual Indigenous Writing residency and was one of the interpreters for Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. She has been awarded the title of chevalier in France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her work in translation, interpretation and literature.