Backstory Talks: Marta Orriols & Mara Faye Lethem
Detalles
Join us for a very special evening with Catalan author Marta Orriols and her translator into English, Mara Faye Lethem. This unique encounter will explore the creative collaboration between writer and translator, offering an intimate look into the process of bringing Marta’s acclaimed novel Aprendre a parlar amb les plantes (Edicions del Periscopi, 2018) into English as Learning to Talk to Plants (Pushkin Press, 2020).
Marta and Mara first worked together during the prestigious Art Omi Translation Lab residency, a space dedicated to fostering dialogue between authors and translators. Their ongoing collaboration offers a rare glimpse into how a literary voice travels across languages, cultures, and readerships.
Together, they will reflect on the writing and translation process, the nuances of creative exchange, and how literature transcends borders to reach new audiences.
About the Book
Learning to Talk to Plants tells the story of Paula, a neonatologist who must navigate grief and loss after the sudden death of her partner. With tender precision and emotional depth, Marta Orriols crafts a novel that is both intimate and universal—an exploration of resilience, love, and the fragile ways we learn to live again. Originally published in Catalan by Edicions del Periscopi, it has been translated into numerous languages, with the English edition appearing at Pushkin Press.
About Marta Orriols
Marta Orriols Balaguer is a Barcelona-based writer with a background in art history. She is the author of Anatomia de les distàncies curtes (2016), Aprendre a parlar amb les plantes (2018), winner of the Òmnium Prize for Best Novel of the Year and translated into 16 languages, and Dolça introducció al caos (2020). Her latest novel, La possibilitat de dir-ne casa (2023), was published by Proa (Catalan) and Destino (Spanish). In addition to her novels, she has contributed to short story collections and literary projects in Spain and abroad.
About Mara Faye Lethem
Mara Faye Lethem is an award-winning literary translator based in Barcelona. She has translated works by some of the most renowned contemporary Catalan and Spanish authors, receiving recognition such as the Spain-USA Foundation Translation Prize, the Premi Internacional Joan B. Cendrós, and the Nota Bene Prize. Her work has appeared in Granta, The Paris Review, The New York Times Book Review, and McSweeney’s. In addition to her translation career, she is a PhD candidate at the University of St Andrews, focusing on 20th-century Catalan literature, and the author of La llegada del Bebé X.