British translator Ginny Tapley Takemori has become a recognizable name in translated fiction in recent years. Her work on Sayaka Murata¡¯s ¡°Convenience Store Woman¡± (2018) and ¡°Earthlings¡± (2020), as well as Kyoko Nakajima¡¯s ¡°The Little House¡± (2019), garnered praise, but in an alternate universe she could still be translating works from Spanish or Catalan in sunny Barcelona.
After graduating high school in the 1980s, Takemori took a gap year (that extended into several), enjoying her work in London¡¯s music scene. An eye-opening vacation to Spain, however, convinced Takemori to take a leap and move from her base in England.
¡°I simply fell in love with Barcelona,¡± Takemori says to The Japan Times. ¡°I never felt that way about a place before, but I knew I just wanted to be there. Luckily I had some Spanish from school, and I found an intensive course in Catalan, taught in Spanish, so I really learned both languages simultaneously.¡±
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