Between the Covers: Translation-making at Schaffner Press

Housed in Tucson, a quintessential “in-between” city near an international border, Schaffner Press publishes works of social relevance and universal concern that draw on inspiration from locations both near and distant. Neither “here” nor “there,” Schaffner translators become researchers, writers, and guides as they investigate topics as diverse as life aboard a submarine or the Rwandan genocide. Writers, too, are enlisted to participate in the reshaping of their texts, the better to engage the English-speaking public.

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Moderator

Andrea G. Labinger translates contemporary Latin American fiction. Gesell Dome, her translation of Guillermo Saccomanno’s noir novel Cámara Gesell (Open Letter 2016), won a PEN/Heim Translation Award. Her translation of Saccomanno’s 77 was a finalist for the Best Translated Book Award in 2020.

Presenters

Tim Schaffner is Publisher of Schaffner Press, Inc. Over the last two decades, he has published dozens of titles of literary fiction and nonfiction that deal with themes of universal social concern and social change, and is also engaged in publishing books in translation from French and Spanish. Marjolijn de Jager is a translator of both French and Dutch. She has translated three titles for Schaffner Press, including the upcoming The Bridgetower Sonata by Emmanuel Dongala (February 2021). Marjolijn’s translation of Congo, Inc: Bismarck’s Testament (Indiana University Press) was shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award in 2019. Patricia Ratto (Argentina) is the author of Pequeños hombres blancos, Nudos, Trasfondo, and Faunas. Submerged, a narrative about the submarine ARA San Luis’s role in the Falklands War, will be brought to the screen by award-winning Argentine filmmaker Pablo Giorgelli. Proceed with Caution, forthcoming from Schaffner Press, marks her English-language debut.