C.M. Mayo

“The best literary translators are poets.” C.M. Mayo leans forward, her passion for her craft evident in her voice, her gestures. “Writing poetry forces you to focus on the details and the sounds of the words, the rhythm and meaning. It forces you to take out your microscope and look at your prose.”

The author of Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles Through Baja California, the Other Mexico and editor of Mexico: A Literary Companion, Mayo, a 20-year Mexico City resident, realized that there was a wealth of excellent but untranslated Mexican poetry, and began to do the translations herself. Her pursuit took on a life of its own as Tameme, a literary press devoted to publishing and promoting English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English literary translation of North American writers, particularly those whose work has not been previously translated.

Literary translation is an art, she says, a different animal from the rapid-fire interpreting that oils the gears of organizations like the United Nations.

“Some of the best literary translators don’t even speak the language that well. What you need is a good dictionary, access to a native speaker, and lots of patience.”

Mayo scoured the United States, Canada, the UK and Australia for the broadest possible pool of English translations of short fiction about Mexico, which she then pared down to the 24 pieces that appear in the literary companion.

“This book is about all of Mexico. It’s a portrait of Mexico seen through the eyes of its top literary writers. Not ‘These are the best writers in Mexico.’ It’s a different sociology.”

Catherine Mansell Mayo is the economist and former ITAM (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México) professor who penned a bestselling book on Mexico’s financial markets. As an investment banker at Banamex during the early 90s, Mayo was on the frontlines of Mexico’s move toward a more open economy.

Does she see a conflict between her career in economics, that most rational of sciences, and her current role in the world of literature?

“Economics is more literary than most people recognize, it involves a lot of storytelling. Economics is about people’s incentives, understanding why they do things, and that informs my writing.”

C.M. Mayo is in the process of completing a work of historical fiction (“Gone with the Wind, a la mexicana, she says”), set during the 1860s, when Austrian archduke Maximilian ruled Mexico. The book, an elaborate work of research which involved poring over stacks of historical documents in four languages (English, Spanish, French and German) is seven years in the making.

“What I do as an artist, I hope it makes money, but I don’t do it for the money. I believe there is something beyond the rational that tells you what to do and when to do it. What I do is a labor of love.”

To learn more about C.M. Mayo’s books, visit her website www.cmmayo.com. You can buy her books online in Mexico at Amate Books, www.amatebooks.com.