A vortex-like image adorns this page because translation is, fundamentally, madness: an impossible quest (traduttore, traditore), an invitation to abuse and exploitation, an engulfing pursuit.

I hold a diplôme de traduction from the French Institute/Alliance Française (Mention très bien) and am a certified translator of Italian (American Translators Association).

My translation clients include HarperCollins, A&E Television, BNP Paribas, Gotham Chamber Opera, Manhattan School of Music, and author Franco Spallino. I've translated five non-fiction titles (from Italian) for Barron's (list follows) and am currently translating Catherine Clément's 1992 novel La Señora.

La Señora is based on the life of Hannah Mendes, also known as Doña Gracia Nasi (1510-69). From a family of conversos (Spanish and Portuguese Jews who were converted to Catholicism under duress), Doña Gracia became a widow at 25 and heiress to an immense fortune. She wheeled and dealed for profit and survival with some of the most powerful people and institutions of her time. Forced to flee for her life from Lisbon to Antwerp, Venice, Ferrara, and Istanbul, Doña Gracia publicly embraced Judaism as soon as she was beyond the reach of the Inquisition and used her wealth to establish a network of safehouses that rescued thousands of Jews from persecution. She eventually sponsored Jewish colonies in the Holy Land. The Ladino Bible of Ferrara (1553) was published at Doña Gracia's initiative.

La Señora centers on the forbidden, unconsummated, and probably fictional love of Doña Gracia for her nephew, Don Josef Nasi. The elderly Don Josef narrates La Señora in a series of flashbacks. This excerpt from Chapter IV takes place during the Nasis' sojourn in Ferrara, just before they set out for Istanbul.

Other translations:

• Our Planet Earth, Barron's, 2003.
• Life in a Medieval Castle, Barron's, 2003.
• Rock (Masters of Music series), Barron's, 1999.
• Opera (Masters of Music series), Barron's, 1999.
• The High Renaissance (Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo), Barron's, 1999.