Natalia Iacobelli
You identified yourself on the SCBWI-MI new member sign-up as a “Translator.” What other languages (aside from English) are you fluent in?
Aside from English, I am fluent in Italian, and am proficient in Spanish.
How and when did you learn this language (these languages)?
Italian was my first language. Although I was born and raised in metro Detroit, I grew up in a household in which Italian was the primary language spoken. Spanish, on the other hand, was a language I acquired later in life, through my husband.
Do you speak, read and write in this language? How do you keep in practice?
I use Italian on a daily basis as I am raising our three children to speak Italian. In addition, I am a literary translator in the field of art history, theory and criticism, and my clients are all based in Italy.
Do you sometimes dream in another language?
I do dream in both Italian and English. Curiously enough, that is a question I am asked often!
Have you read books in their original language, and then compared them to English translations?
Yes. All the time. However, when this happens, I tend to scrutinize the English translation and determine how I would have translated each sentence differently (a translator’s guilty pleasure).
While I’ve always worked within the realm of art history, theory and criticism, I would love to begin translating children’s books. I would be open to anything!
What are you working on right now?
I have decided to venture into the world of children’s literature—this time not as a translator, but as an author. I recently signed with a literary agency and am currently working on a picture book biography on a trailblazing female painter who defied all odds and is now considered one of history’s greatest women artists.
What are your plans for the future?
I see myself writing more children’s books—particularly nonfiction picture books. I especially enjoy drawing from my background in art history as well as my heritage.
How did you find SCBWI?
Belonging to SCBWI was a consistent element that came up in my initial research on ways to enter the world of children’s literature. It has certainly proven to be a valuable resource!
Lang Chen
(Lang says, "I consider myself a bi-lingual writer more than a translator at this moment.")
What other languages (aside from English) are you fluent in?
I grew up in China. Mandarin Chinese is my native language.
Do you speak, read and write in this language? How do you keep in practice?
I wrote creatively in Chinese since I was very young. But several years after I moved to the States for graduate school, I thought my Chinese was ruined. It was no longer vivid or full of life, but mixed with English grammars. I thought I could never write creatively (again), in Chinese or English, as I was not good enough for either.
But after I graduated, I moved to Singapore and then Hong Kong to work, where I found the languages people use are highly hybridized and they are proud of their languages. I realized that language in “good literature” doesn’t have to be “pure” or “local,” especially in such a globalized world where a lot of people relocate themselves to different countries or cultures.
As long as there is something burning within you, you should go ahead to write it down. So I started exploring creative writing again after I moved back to the States.
What are you working on right now?
I am writing in English picture books for children and a novel for grownups in Chinese. Probably I will translate them to the other language if I’m really happy about them and feel people may be interested.
In my picture book manuscripts, I try to empower girls, normalize cultural differences, and introduce some Asian philosophy. When I was a child, people didn’t care what kind of messages girls could get from their books. I enjoyed watching the old version of the Smurfs and read those stories which all end with an allegedly happy marriage with a prince. Then the girls would have to spend decades to figure out these are not true.
I’m very happy to see girls today have a lot more books to choose from and many of them are very progressive. I definitely want to contribute to this change and also add to it my voice as an Asian woman who studied Buddhism for many years.
For example, gratitude to your parents is very important in Asian culture. Of course if it is forced on children, it could be very oppressive. But if it is conveyed in a natural way, it empowers children by giving them agency.
Children love taking care of their parents and we should encourage them to do it, because when doing that, they feel like they were grownups. Children and parents are interdependent, just like everything in the universe – this is very Buddhist.
How did you find SCBWI?
After I finished drafting my first picture book manuscript, I wondered how I could possibly get it published. So I googled and found SCBWI. I was amazed by how open and welcoming it is: The big Book and the online forums are so helpful. I think it explains why this field in America is so thriving, compared with many other countries where there is no such society.
Thank you, Lang and Natalie, and welcome to SCBWI-MI.
If you've got a suggestion for a future Writer Spotlight interview, contact me, Charlie Barshaw, at cjbarshaw523@aol.com.
Great to meet Lang and Natalie. Welcome to our group. My daughter is adopted from China, so I did take Chinese language classes for several years until I started writing and didn't have time to study. My late husband was Mexican-American and always wished I would have learned Spanish.
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