The Epistolary Friendship of a Writer and Her Translator

Author Jazmina Barrera and her longtime translator, Christina MacSweeney, have been pen pals for years. I asked them to exchange some letters, as they are wont to do, about friendship, translation, and their new novel Cross-Stitch. —Sophia Stewart, editor

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Dearest Jaz,

I’m feeling both excited and a little worried about starting a new thread in our correspondence. In the past, our emails have always seemed to flow naturally. It’s hard to know where we should begin.

Abrazos,
Christina

Dearest,

Here’s what I think. We’ve been asked to talk about the translation of  in an epistolary format. And although starting a new thread in our conversation does feel a little artificial, it’s at the same time easy because we’ve always had an epistolary relationship. Even before you became my translator, you were the first and only pen pal I’ve had who lasted more than a couple of lines. In this day and era of WhatsApp and emojis, it seems difficult, if not impossible, to have a meaningful conversation with someone through the thoughtful, time-consuming format of long letters, and yet that is just what we’ve managed to have for many years now. We’ve talked about the weather, books, travels, and gossip in this format. We’ve also talked many times about translation. They want us to write about (it is also about embroidery, but the main thing about embroidery there is that it is a catalyst for friendship), and they want us to talk about translation, and I think that in our case, translation has become an important part of the friendship. How do you feel about that? Do you think that translation can enable friendship? I’ve always thought of translation as a profession of care and affection towards language and texts. Could it be a work of friendship? Maybe not always towards the author, but definitely towards the text?