Children's writer and community activist wins translation prize at McGill
Published author and translator KerryAnn Cochrane was awarded the McGill Associates Prize in Translation (French to English) at the 2007 Spring Convocation. This prize is awarded annually to the student with the best academic record over the entire Certificate in Translation Program.
Ms. Cochrane completed her BEd degree at the University of Alberta’s Faculté Saint-Jean in 1993. Bilingualism has since become a way of life and work for this accomplished writer and editor.
After discovering her love of children’s literature during her studies in Alberta, Ms. Cochrane’s talents in this genre were later recognized by the Writers’ Union of Canada in 2005 for her book Jessica Jane Jacobson Jones — The Book of Magic Spells. Moreover, she has two published literary translations to her credit: A Morning in Babylon, an Evening in Manhattan (2002) and Hello, Me Pretty (2007). The first, a novel by French author Michel Sauquet, focuses on the story of a couple and their roots going all the way back to the Babel narrative; the universal message of interest to translators is the rich diversity of people, their languages, their cultures and their writings in a world where intercultural communication has an increasingly important role to play, an appropriate subject for a budding translator. Similarly, Ms. Cochrane’s translation of Line Gamache’s novel Té malade, toi focuses on problems of understanding disability and differences against the backdrop of Quebec culture and history.
In addition to being a literary translator and children’s writer, Ms. Cochrane actively devotes a great deal of her time to community both in Canada and on the international stage with not-for-profit organizations like Canada World Youth, NetCorps Canada International and the Alliance for Responsible, Plural and United World.
“A solid commitment to excellence, bilingualism, biculturalism and intercultural communication, these are the characteristics that, when coupled with translation competence, set emerging translators like KerryAnn Cochrane apart as valuable players in a plural world,” commented Translation Studies Director James Archibald.
McGill University offers a Certificate and a Graduate Diploma in Translation for apprentice translators interested in the language professions.
For further information:
kathy.peacock [at] mcgill.ca (Mrs. Katherine Peacock)
Tel.: 514-398-1484