My third year as a translator is (already!) coming to an end, and it was rife with interesting projects and promising prospects. In no particular order:
- My first novel translation has been published! Le Dernier grand train d’Amérique by James Grady (This Train in English), with Rivages Noir. Critical reception has been… mixed, but this short paper over at Politis really grasped what I liked about the text. It feels strange, to see your work being critiqued.
- I’ve also translated my first comic: the third book in the Monte Cristo trilogy, by Jordan Mechner and Mario Alberti, over at Glénat.
- Several video games I’ve worked on have been released, in quite different genres: UFO 50, Derek Yu’s neoclassical game compilation, as well as Mythwrecked, an action-adventure game revisiting a shipwrecked pantheon. Each game had its own specific constraints and it was a pleasure to work on them.
- Skira keeps entrusting me with beautiful projects: this book on Peter Halley’s neo-geo art, and this one, dedicated to the meticulous work of Chiharu Shiota (whose art is currently being exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris).
- From a less directly textual perspective, I was elected secretary of the ATLF (the Association for Literary Translators in France), and I gave a couple of presentations to explain what literary translation is and what the ATLF is and does. Hard not think about this scene from Starship Troopers when I talked to students.
Besides, and as always for both the publishing and video game industries, most of my professional happens offscreen. All I can say for now is that in 2025, two more novels I’ve translated should be published, as well as a videogame triptych that represents an extremely fun challenge.
There will surely be more texts, and maybe this blog will see somewhat more regular activity (fingers crossed!). I’d like to write about what I read, and finally take the time to write about my current translations.
While we wait for these hypothetical future posts, I’d like to wish you as good a 2025 as possible. Best of luck for whatever you fight for, and for everything you undertake.