Women in Translation Month with Maren Baudet-Lackner

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For Women in Translation Month, we’re celebrating the women who help stories cross borders. Translators are not simply carrying words from one language to another; they are literary collaborators whose choices and craft help shape how a story is experienced by new readers.

Maren Baudet-Lackner, translator of Osvalde Lewat’s The Aquatics, shares her thoughts on the importance of translation, the value of reading across cultures and why Women in Translation Month matters.

Read the full conversation below.

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What first drew you to The Aquatics and made you want to translate it?

I first learned about The Aquatics from the interview Osvalde gave to the French literary magazine Lire. I was instantly drawn to her representation of Katmé’s struggle to decide whether to do what is right or what is comfortable. For some readers, the fact that Katmé doesn’t do more for Samy and queer rights in general may be off-putting. For me, having grown up in a small town in the rural United States with a lesbian mother, it feels deeply—perhaps shamefully—authentic.

Which aspect of Osvalde Lewat’s writing was the most exciting to recreate in English?

I cannot get enough of Osvalde’s tongue-in-cheek social critique, so that was a real joy to reproduce in English. Chapter six is one of my favourites for that aspect of her writing.

The novel explores power, friendship, and political repression. Did translating these themes change the way you experienced the story?

I think translating a book always changes the way you experience a story to some degree. Translators read more closely and pay more attention to every detail than any other reader ever will, in my opinion. Getting that granular definitely shifts some of your focus from the main themes and overall sense of the story at times. This is one of the reasons I always finish a translation as long as I can before a deadline so that I can put it away and then come back to it with fresh eyes, to read the English text on its own.

Which part of the novel demanded the most from you as a translator?

SPOILER ALERT: The stream of consciousness account of Samy’s murder at the hands of teen and preteen boys was extremely difficult to get through emotionally, and to get right, i.e., to strike the same balance of innocence and viciousness that Osvalde had created.

Women in Translation Month celebrates literature that crosses linguistic borders. Why do you think initiatives like this matter?

Women writers have traditionally been translated significantly less often than men. Since its founding by Meytal Radzinski in 2014, Women in Translation Month has done a lot to help counterbalance that fact. In addition to spotlighting women writers, it also brings a lot of attention to literary translation in general. I’m biased, of course, but short of living in various countries for an extended period of time, I genuinely think that reading literature in translation is the best way to learn about the world’s many different places, peoples, and cultures. It helps us to see beyond the “differences” politicians are all too eager to point out – and even make up – and understand what really matters: We’re all people, with the same basic needs, emotions, and struggles.

You have built a career translating contemporary French-language literature, particularly by underrepresented writers. What draws you to these projects?

Since childhood I’ve been drawn to stories of places and people that are unfamiliar to me. It started as a way to escape the conservative community I was growing up in. Today I suppose it’s still about broadening my own horizons and those of English-speaking readers around the globe. I’ve lived abroad for most of my adult life now, and living in a different language and culture has taught me so much about my own default “normal”. I think that books in translation can do that too—broaden our understanding of what is “normal”.

What do you hope English-language readers take away from The Aquatics?

I hope that they’re moved by the friendship between Katmé and Samy and that the book pushes them to reflect the state of queer rights—and all minority rights—where they live, as well as their own potential complicity in it.

Finally, what does Women in Translation Month mean to you personally?

It is heartening to see how many presses, influencers, and bookshops are taking part in the movement this year!

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