I’m a literary translator based in Florence, Italy. I translate from the Italian. Translation is my way of giving back all the pleasure I got from reading. Through translation I can share that pleasure with others.

I created Parallel Texts: words reflected in October 2015, and have been blogging all things translation since.

I was born in Italy and grew up in Canada. What I often thought took from me – the idea (sometimes insinuated by others) that I was neither truly Canadian nor Italian – actually gave me so much; because you can be both, because I am both.

I studied Italian literature and Drama at the University of Windsor, and at the University of Toronto. It was thanks to my wonderful professors that I learned to love Italian language and literature. In 2000, I won a competitive exam in Florence, which gave me access to the translation course: Protr@d . I have since been translating in numerous different fields. Translation has taught me about art history and architecture, geology and music. And while I carried those words across linguistic borders, I learned both Italian and English, because that’s what translators do: they learn continuously. For four and a half years now, I have been translating mostly literature.

I have also been teaching ESL since I arrived in Italy at the age of 24. It has opened doors to incredible places – from kindergartens to prison classrooms, from libraries to high schools – and it has introduced me to marvellous people of all ages. I am currently teaching English in high school in Mugello.

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