CAMEROON - Interview with author Max Lobe and translator Ros Schwartz

Season 03 Episode 05 of the Intralingo World Lit Podcast

Max is the most delightful guest who shared much about the wide-ranging themes he wanted to convey in this story and, as an extraordinarily talented and sensitive translator, Ros offered yet another dimension to this slim but deep novel.

~Lisa

Lisa Carter
Founder & Creative Director, Intralingo Inc.

00:00:36 – Introduction

00:01:35 – Max shares what he wanted to write about: migration from Africa to Europe, Boko Haram, religion, family and LGBT issues

00:03:33 – Max’s story of leaving Cameroon

00:06:36 – Ros and Max’s collaboration

00:09:00 – The language of Camfranglais

00:12:04 – The politics of translation choices

00:14:00 – Enriched the experience for readers

00:15:25 – A place for glossaries in fiction

00:15:51 – A tip for translators and varieties of English

00:17:20 – Max’s approach to language

00:19:32 – Awareness of English as a colonizing language

00:20:53 – Examples of how Max and Ros collaborated

00:23:17 – Vibrancy of sound, color, action in this novel

00:25:15 – Cameroonian students critiqued Ros’s translation

00:26:44 – The themes at the heart of the book

00:30:55 – Max’s personal connections to the themes

00:33:30 – Cameroon today

00:36:45 – The relationship between the protagonists

00:37:08 – The Gay Book Prize in France

00:39:30 – The universal human experience

00:41:10 – The particular experience Max wanted to explore

00:44:05 – Shame, breaking free and where Max wants to go next

GET THE BOOK

Intralingo Bookshop * (US customers only)

Or support the authors through your local, independent bookseller or library.

THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY…

Wayfarers Book Club, learn more at www.intralingo.com/wayfarers 

*We often receive free books from publishers, authors and/or translators, but our recommendations are never paid. They are offered only when we genuinely want to share a book with you. Any links to the Intralingo store on Bookshop.org are affiliate links and may earn us a small commission on your purchase, at no extra cost to you. Bookshop is currently only available to US customers.