Clara Défachel

I am a second-year PhD candidate in Comparative Literature, working under the supervision of Prof Nicki Hitchcott (University of St Andrews), Dr Aedin Ni Loingsigh (University of Stirling) and Prof Nadia Kiwan (University of Aberdeen).

My thesis combines comparative literature, translation studies, and cultural policy research to explore literary translations from Arabic into French produced in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and France in the past decade. I focus both on French cultural diplomacy's recent interest in promoting such translation flows, and on the specific itinerary to publication of selected translated texts as these are pitched, produced and circulated by publishers, translators, and other book professionals around the Mediterranean. This project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through a SGSAH-DTP Studentship.

I have previously worked on representations of Comorian literature in the French publishing industry and in English translation, and I remain interested in this area. In connection to both this earlier work and my current doctoral project, I have lately been particularly interested in the representation of various Arabics and Frenches in translation, co-editions, and independent publishers' role in the global publishing industry in French.

• reading in translation
• North African fiction
• material and print cultures
• sociology of literature and translation
• contemporary Francophone literatures (esp. from the Indian Ocean)
• postcolonial cultural policy & diplomacy