My academic career has been a winding road across Europe. I started out, after leaving school with “A” levels, by studying business studies. A few years later I moved to France and, after the birth of my three sons, studied for a licence (BA) at the University of Grenoble III Stendhal. I relocated to the UK and passed the Chartered Institute of Linguist’s French Diploma. Then I completed a PGCE (French & German), followed by an MA in French Literary Translation and, finally, a PhD at the University of Exeter. I taught undergraduate French language classes at the University of Exeter. I then left Exeter and, after a short stay in Cambridge, moved to Spain. I wanted to work on my Spanish. I was tempted back to England by the post of European Course Director for the MA in Interpreting and Translation and the MA in Translation and Professional Language Skills at the University of Bath. I now am an occasional lecturer on these MAs. I love the rewards of training new linguists.
I have presented at numerous conferences over the years as you can see below.
30 June 2010: Conseil International d’Études Francophone (CIEF) conference at Montreal where I presented a paper entitled: ‘Comment lire Evelyne Wilwerth quand on est anglaise et traductrice?’ This paper analyzed the two most recent publications by the Belgian writer Evelyne Wilwerth: Plus rien à Perdre (a play) and Papillon Mortel (a novel).
7 March 2009: Mediating Memory conference at the University of Bath where I presented a paper entitled: ‘War and the challenge of identity in Alain Bosquet’s fiction’
10-11 November 2008: Le Monde d’Alain Bosquet Conference, University of Haifa. I presented a paper entitled: ‘La quête d’identité dans l’œuvre d’autofiction d’Alain Bosquet.’
30 June 2008: Conseil International d’Études Francophone (CIEF) conference at Limoges, France where I presented a paper entitled: ‘La quête d’identité dans l’autofiction d’Alain Bosquet’.
1 July 2005: Conseil International d’Études Francophone (CIEF) conference at Gatineau, Canada where I presented a paper entitled: ‘A partir d’Une mère russe, en passant par Mon père jusqu’Au Départ : l’autofiction d’Alain Bosquet.’
25 February 2005: ‘Connections4’ conference at the University of Bristol. Presented a paper entitled: ‘Broken Identities: conceptualizing the disintegration of the self: Paris, a Russian’s destination’.
24 June 2004: Conseil International d’Études Francophone (CIEF) conference at Liège where I presented a paper entitled: ‘Alain Bosquet et la deuxième guerre mondiale’.
17 June 2004: Organised a South-West Regional Postgraduate Network conference – ‘Conflict and Reconciliation’ – at the University of Exeter. Presented a paper entitled: ‘Alain Bosquet and the 2nd World War’.
28 November 2003: ‘Connections’ conference at the University of Bristol. Presented a paper entitled: ‘The Outsider within: inclusion through the literary works of Alain Bosquet’.
28 May 2003: Organised a South-West Regional Postgraduate Network symposium -‘Borders and Crossings’ –at the University of Exeter. Presented a paper entitled: ‘From Odessa to Paris’ about the life and works of Alain Bosquet.’
It’s a quiet time for academic pursuits and news.
I worked on the translation of a paper for a French University last summer.
But the reality is that my commercial work has taken over for the moment.
