My first visit to Italy in the winter of 1986, at the age of nineteen, triggered a deep desire to learn the language. That summer I attended Middlebury College Language Schools and acquired a strong foundation in the language, studying with Prof. Mario Moffa. When I returned to Mills College, where I was majoring in Comparative Literature, I cross-registered at UC Berkeley and took as many Italian literature classes as possible. I later spent my junior year (1987-1988) at the University of Florence, where I studied medieval manuscripts, Renaissance history, and contemporary cultural studies. 

After receiving my Bachelor's degree in 1989, I moved back to Florence and taught English, then made my home in the nearby Casentino Valley for four years. In 1994, I returned to the United States, to New York City, where I worked at the Italian Academy at Columbia University and, later, at the Consulate General of Italy.

In 1999, I attempted my first short literary translations and realized that this was my path forward. I began studying for a Master’s degree in Italian at Columbia University, which I obtained in 2002, studying with a number of inspiring professors, including Luciano Rebay. To sustain a career in translation, I pursued a second Master's degree, this time in Adolescent Education, and became an English teacher in the NYC public schools. I moved back to Italy in 2009, where, in addition to translating literature, I taught English, worked in the wine industry, wrote articles for a local newspaper, and did commercial translations. 

A number of associations, institutions, and workshops have indirectly and directly encouraged me, over the years, to stay the course. In 2001, I won a travel fellowship from the American Literary Translators Association, and I have tried to attend their annual conferences ever since. I was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome in 2003 while translating a novel set in the Eternal City. Things came full circle when, in 2018, I taught a graduate-level translation class at Middlebury College Italian Language School. In 2019, I participated in a literary translation workshop in Florence with Tim Parks and connected with a new group of colleagues. Also in 2019, I attended the Middlebury College Breadloaf Translation Workshop and my community grew. In 2021, I followed a specialized course on teaching literary translation hosted by the British Centre for Literary Translation, the European School of Literary Translation, and the Fondazione San Pellegrino: new friends, new ideas. My work has been nominated for various awards, including the International Booker Prize, the Oxford-Weidenfeld Award, the ALTA IPTA prize, the Dublin Impac, and the Silver Dagger Award.

Recently, I have started writing essays under my own name that explore the layers of my connection to the Italian language through the phenomenology of translation. Workshops with Q.M. Zhang and Granta have helped me dig deeper into this topic through the sharing of work in a supportive community.   

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Electric Lit Recommended Reading: "I am an Eight-year-old Orpheus" October 14, 2024

Europa website: Reading guide to Starnone's The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan, October 8, 2024

Global Libraries and Literature Initiative, Italian Literature in Translation Blog Post: Sneak peek of reading guide to The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan October 4, 2024

Asymptote blog: "In my dreams I reply like this" August 15, 2024

Article in Asymptote: Interview with Oonagh Stransky and Marla Moffa, translators of Eugenio Montale's Butterfly of Dinard" June 20, 2024

Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Day, Talk: "Creative Solutions to Complex Situations in The House on Via Gemito." St. Anne's College, Oxford University, June 15, 2024

International Booker Prize Longlist 2024: Interview with Domenico Starnone and Oonagh Stransky April 3, 2024

Harshaneeyam Podcast: International Booker Prize Longlisted Book: The House on Via Gemito March 22, 2024

Tupelo Quarterly: "A Full-Stop on Her Period: Translating Lucarelli's Almost Blue" December 14, 2023

Hopscotch: "Thoughts on the Translation of Via Gemito" May 30, 2023

Contact me with any questions you may have.