What does it mean to translate slang, profanity, and other such registers of language? Join for short talks and a discussion with award-winning translators Sophie Hughes and Emma Ramadan, who will speak about their work translating profane and powerful books by Fernanda Melchor and Virginie Despentes.

Sophie Hughes is a literary translator of Spanish-language writers such as Enrique Vila Matas, Alia Trabucco Zerán, Laia Jufresa, Brenda Navarro, and José Revueltas. She is the recipient of grants from PEN/Heim in the US, and the Arts Council and Arts Foundation in the UK. Her recent translation of Fernanda Melchor’s Hurricane Season was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, the Dublin Literary Award, and longlisted for the National Book Award in Translation. Sophie has also worked with the Stephen Spender Trust promoting translation in schools and is the co-editor of the anthology Europa28: Writing by Women on the Future of Europe.

Emma Ramadan is a literary translator based in Providence, RI where she also co-owns Riffraff bookstore and bar. She is the recipient of an NEA Translation Fellowship, a Fulbright, and the Albertine Prize for her work. Her translations include Sphinx by Anne Garréta, Pretty Things by Virginie Despentes, Me & Other Writing by Marguerite Duras, and A Country for Dying by Abdellah Taïa.