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Pieces of Me - Translation
by Susan Ouriou
I am honored that my translation of the young adult novel Pieces of Me has been chosen for this year’s Governor General’s award. We hear too often the expression “lost in translation” whereas I see translation more as an act of going from being lost to being found. Both translators and writers map together uncharted territory, each in our own language, each in our own way. We go to a place where images, thoughts and feelings reside before returning to the written page, to a place that holds meaning for us all. It has been my privilege with this translation to give young readers searching for their own path through the world a story that has the power to resonate with them.
My thanks go out to: Charlotte Gingras for writing La Liberté? Connais Pas, Louise Mongeau of la courte échelle and Karen Li and Karen Boersma of Kid’s Can Press for believing in this book, the Literary Translators Association of Canada for its championing of translators’ rights and The Banff Centre for acknowledging translators’ place as artists. I would also like to thank the jury and the Canada Council for helping make art possible and Her Excellency Michaëlle Jean whose example, along with that of her husband His Excellency Jean-Daniel Lafond, I greatly admire. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to my parents for showing me the way, to my husband for his steadfast love, to my daughter Christelle for the beautiful woman she has become and to my daughter Katie, who died at 16 but lives forever in my heart.
