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From beautiful French to award-winning English

Alumna Rhonda Mullins wins Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation
November 9, 2015
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By Isaac Olson


Translating novels from French to English may not have been the career path she set out on when she began studying communications back in the late 1980s. Yet Rhonda Mullins, MA (media studies) 96, has since risen to the top of Canada’s literary food chain as an award-winning, nationally recognized translator.

Rhonda Mullins Rhonda Mullins won the 2015 Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation for Twenty-One Cardinals (Les héritiers de la mine).

On October 28, Twenty-One Cardinals, Mullins’s English version of Jocelyne Saucier’s Les héritiers de la mine, took home the 2015 Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation. Mullins was a finalist for the same award three times in recent years, recognizing her ability to transmit the complex nuances of French literature into a fitting English adaptation.

While the two languages have many similarities, the cadence, flow and word play does not always transfer easily, she explains. At times, one pun or twist on words in French can lead to months of searching for a suitable English equivalent.

Working on contemporary novels means she can, if need be, ask the author questions for clarification after her first draft. Yet she says it remains a challenge to capture the rhythm and meaning of French literature while still making it sound beautiful in English.

“I don’t know how much of the French language you’re taking with you or how much you’re leaving behind,” says Mullins. “It still feels a bit mysterious to me.”

Her translation of Jocelyne Saucier’s The Birds Rained Down (Il pleuvait des oiseaux) was a CBC Canada Reads Selection in 2015 and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation in 2014. Her other shortlisted works were Élise Turcotte’s Guyana (2014) and Hervé Fischer’s The Decline of the Hollywood Empire (2007).

In all, Mullins has translated 10 books while continuing to maintain a freelance writing and editing career over the last 15 years.

Twenty-One Cardinals Twenty-One Cardinals

The nominations were an honour, she says, but winning caught her off guard. “When they called me to tell me I won, I started to cry immediately,” she recounts. “It sort of snuck up on me, I guess.”

Mullins’s mother tongue is English but a Montreal French-immersion school as a child. She received a BA in social science, political science/public policy and public management from the University of Ottawa in 1987. Two years later, she earned a second BA from the University of Ottawa in honours communication.

She taught several courses in Concordia’s Department of Communication Studies over a four-year period in the early 1990s before earning her master’s in media studies from the university in 1996.

When the dotcom boom got underway in the late 1990s, Mullins jumped on board. She took on roles ranging from marketing writer to content engineer before becoming her own boss in 2001.

Fast forward to 2005. Mullins was not new to translation when she decided to hone her craft by getting certified as a translator at McGill University. She spent some time as a French-to-English translation lecturer at McGill in 2009. Meanwhile, one contact led to another and she soon found herself translating French literature.

Mullins continues to write ads, business plans, sales proposals and more. She dedicates about 20 per cent of her time to literary translation as the projects take six months to a year. But no matter how long the process, Mullins says she enjoys the work.

“I love playing in the language. Literary translation is nice because you don’t actually have to have an idea or story. You just get to play in the language,” she says.

“It’s always a challenge and I think it is something that comes with experience, but I still have a long ways to go.”

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