Lire l’article en français : Le concours de la Fondation Cole pour les traducteurs émergents
Since its inception in 2013, the Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators (formerly Cole Competition for Emerging Translators) has been mentoring the next generation of translators from French to English. PWM, with the expert guidance of acclaimed translator Maureen Labonté and in partnership with the Cole Foundation has built a program that mentors emerging translators through every stage of the translation process. The competition awards the selected translators a $1000 honorarium and an eight month mentorship with Maureen Labonté. This program has ushered in an exciting ongoing discussion on the challenges and rewards of translating work for the stage.
In 2017 two projects were selected: Translator John Jack Paterson has been working on well-known Quebec playwright, Daniel Danis’ TYA play (12 and up), Kiwi. There will be a reading on March 29th at 7PM in PWM’s Studio and in Vancouver in June 2018. Translator Jennie Herbin is working on Catherine Chabot’s Table rase which was a huge hit here in Montreal and on tour. There is an English production in the works for 2018.
Playwright and librettist, Alexis Diamond, was the first winner of the Cole competition for Emerging Translators in 2013. She translated Marie-Claude Verdier’s Je n’y suis plus. I’m Not Here was selected to be part of the 2016 SummerWorks Performance Festival in Toronto, the Voilà Festival in the United Kingdom and had a run here in Montreal at Salle Fred-Barry. Alexis has gone on to translate Pascal Bruellmans, TYA play Vipérine / Amaryllis, Pascale St-Onge‘s play, Tarmac, for the National Theatre School and has contributed to translations for Cirque du Soleil’s latest touring show written by Olivier Kemeid among others.
Well-known Montreal theatre artist, Johanna Nutter, was awarded the 2014 Cole Prize. She translated Chlore, by Nicolas Michon and Florence Longpré. The translation, Chlorine, was produced by Johanna’s theatre company, creature/creature, at Centaur Theatre in October 2016 as part of Centaur’s Brave New Look series. Johanna Nutter has recently been chosen to be part of the new CEAD-PWM Formation en traduction program. She will be working on texts by Guillaume Corbeil and Annick Lefebvre.
The Baklawa Recipe by Pascale Rafie directed by PWM Artistic Director, Emma Tibaldo, premiered at the Centaur Theatre in January 2018. It was translated by Melissa Bull, the recipient of the 2015 Cole Foundation Competition for Emerging Translators. Melissa is a writer, poet and editor. She has translated prose work by Fanny Arcand, Kim Thuy and Marie-Sissi Labrèche. Her first novel will be published this spring at Anvil press. She is already working on her second translation for the stage, the award-winning Québécois play, J’accuse by Annick Lefebvre.
Jordan Arsenault was the 2016 recipient of the Cole Foundation Prize. He translated Eric Noel’s Faire des enfants. His translation, River Bed, was given a public reading at Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal in November 2017. There has been interest in the play from theatres in Toronto. Jordan is doing a Masters in Translation at McGill University.
