Staff Profile

I am a freelance translator from French and Spanish into British English.

I specialise in creative translation, also known as transcreation: texts that require a service somewhere between original writing and translation. The focus is placed on style and the effect on the target audience. Marketing and literary texts are prime candidates for transcreation.

Commercial Translation

Over the years, my clients have included tourism specialists, such as Time Out Barcelona, LeCool Publishing and Cité & Patrimoine, and arts organisations such as Atelier 231, Sens Interdits Festival and WildWorks Theatre.

Through agency work, I have also translated for a long list of major retail brands, including Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Nina Ricci, La Grande Épicerie de Paris, Desigual, Camper, Lottusse, Swatch…

Literary Translation

Among my literary translations are two contemporary Spanish plays, Run! by Yolanda García Serrano and Taxi Girl by María Velasco, both for the Cervantes Theatre in London (2019 & 2020), and contributions to a bilingual short story anthology, Vanishing Points, and poetry anthology, Theatre Under My Skin, both for the Salvadoran publisher, Editorial Kalina (2017 & 2014). See below for links to a selection of online translations.

In 2015, I was awarded the Poetry Translation Mentorship from the British Centre for Literary Translation. I have also participated in various literary translation events, including Protest Poets in Translation at the Southbank Centre (2015), Translation as Collaboration at Newcastle University (2017) and the Arts of Translation masterclass series at Durham University (2021).

Translator Training

Since 2018, I have increasingly been involved in translator training, teaching on the MA programmes at both Durham and Newcastle universities. I also develop materials and run workshops in schools for the Stephen Spender Trust and the Translation Exchange, including for projects such as the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators and Prismatic Jane Eyre.

Background

I originally studied English Literature and African & Asian Studies at Sussex University. I went on to work in a press agency in London, before getting a Certificate in Proofreading and becoming a freelance proofreader for Pan Macmillan.

Moving to France, then Spain, there was a natural transition into translation work, but my first real experience in the translation industry was as a Project Manager, then Terminologist and Language Specialist, for the global group, TransPerfect.

On my return to the UK, I consolidated my translation experience with an MA in Translation Studies at Durham University, graduating with a distinction in 2015. I also have certificates in Teaching in Higher Education (2019) from Newcastle University and Teaching Literary Translation (2020) from the European School of Literary Translation.

Selected Literary Translations

Six incantations against loss / Seis conjuros contra la pérdida, non-fiction by Tania Pleitez Vela (El Salvador), New England Review (46.2), USA, 2025

Day-to-day / Lo cotidiano, poetry by Carmen González Huguet (El Salvador), The Offing, USA, 2021

Three poems from Cheat Sheets / Torpedos, poetry by Yanko González (Chile), Lyrikline, Germany, 2021

Taxi Girl, play by María Velasco (Spain), Cervantes Theatre, London, 2020

Selected poems by Lil Milagro Ramírez (El Salvador), Female Fighters Series, Guernica Magazine, USA, 2020

Thirty Days A Widow / Treinta días de una viuda, poetry collection by Tania Pleitez Vela (El Salvador), Red Ceilings Press, UK, 2014

PhD Research

I am currently researching Creative Translation in the Classroom in collaboration with the Stephen Spender Trust through an AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award from the Northern Bridge Consortium. 

Abstract

Examining Creative Translation in the Classroom as a Tool for Engagement with Languages

Creative Translation in the Classroom (CTiC) is the flagship educational programme from the Stephen Spender Trust, a leading charity in the UK for international literature and literary translation. CTiC engages an award-winning three-step Decode-Translate-Create framework, where the literal translation of a source text becomes the catalyst for creative (re)writing. The language used in the source text is usually more challenging than the ability of the class, but a comprehensive glossary is provided, enabling authentic texts to be selected that are appealing to secondary school students.

Evidence suggests that CTiC positively and significantly impacts modern foreign language (MFL) students: boosting language skills, enhancing intercultural competence and improving attitudes towards language learning and translation. This appears to be the case for students with a range of language learner identities, including monolingual and multilingual students and stronger and weaker language learners. Teachers also reportedly feel inspired and supported by CTiC. The research, however, is limited and the evidence largely anecdotal. 

This collaborative PhD project therefore seeks to provide vital empirical data, contributing not only to the gap within the research field, but also to reinforcing the charitable work of the Stephen Spender Trust (SST). Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through the Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership, it will seek to identify and understand the types and levels of engagement in the three steps of CTiC with particular consideration for language learner identities. Engagement in classroom activities, defined here as active participation in a task and commitment to its objectives, is frequently perceived as an optimum for ‘accomplishing the goals of schooling’. The research will take a predominantly qualitative approach, with the main phase involving case studies in three secondary schools in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Supervisory Team

Jennifer Arnold, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University

Judith Reynolds, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University

Pamela Woolner, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University

Charlotte Ryland, Director of the Stephen Spender Trust