Literary Translation and Neurodivergence with Clare Richards

For this episode, we speak to the lovely Clare Richards. Clare is joined in conversation by Rebecca DeWald, our Emerging Translator Mentorships Programme Manager. Clare was one of our Emerging Translator Mentorship mentees in 2020/21, and was mentored by Anton Hur.

Clare is a translator of Korean, but has a passion for the more challenging scripts such as Japanese, as she explains in their conversation. As a neurodivergent person, Clare is perfectly placed to reflect on our ableist workplaces and the male-skewed view of autism. Clare really found her calling in literary translation, allowing her to build a way of working that suits her skills and preferences.

In this episode, Clare and Rebecca discuss how learning new languages can help change the way we think and communicate.

Clare Richards is a neurodivergent literary translator based in London. She first began translating in 2018 and was later selected for the 2020-21 National Centre for Writing Emerging Translator Mentorship in Korean. In 2021, Clare’s translation of Kim Keum Hee’s Half of His Egg Muffin was awarded the Korea Times Modern Korean Literature Translation Commendation Prize in fiction. Her upcoming publications include Kang Hwagil’s gothic thriller Another Person (Pushkin Vertigo, 2023), and Park Minjung’s short story Like a Barbie (Strangers Press, 2022). She has a particular interest in feminist fiction, and as an elected member of the Translators Association Committee, is passionate about furthering discussions of accessibility in translation.