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Interview with John Miles
SKS Traduction • 17 janvier 2022
SKS Traduction recently had the privilege of translating the book Screamer the Swift. This book, which recounts the long migration of a swift down to Africa, is part of the Chick Books collection, a series of stories aimed at introducing children to the wildlife. Its author, John Miles, is a passionate expert who devotes himself to raising environmental awareness and promoting the protection of many bird species.
John Miles has been involved in nature conservation most of his life. After six years in forestry, he worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and then spent two years in Egypt for the World Bank, where he studied ancient birds depicted on the artwork of tombs and temples. In the early 1990s, he began to write books on wildlife and started a long-lasting collaboration with the national magazine Bird Watching.
A few years later, John published the first story of the Chick Books
collection. When asked about the specific approach he adopts when writing for youngsters, he answers that he wants to reflect reality. Indeed, whereas children’s books sometimes lead to simplification and generalization, John’s work tends to show birds as they are, because his aim is for young people to understand and enjoy nature in the long run. In addition, his stories are always illustrated by talented artists, which also contributes to acquainting children with their environment. And what makes it all worthwhile? For John, it is definitely meeting his readers, sharing his passion with them and seeing the impact his books have on the way they consider wildlife.
In John’s stories, the focus on birds brings over many other subjects. History, for example, is very often alluded to, as John’s work shows that the evolution of human civilizations had a tremendous impact on the behaviors and habitats of birds. Swifts perfectly illustrate this: they nested in the holes of tree trunks for centuries, but when forests were cut down, swifts had to find other locations and eventually settled in derelict Roman monuments. Today, they still live in the holes and cracks of our buildings. The same goes for geography (with subjects such as migrations and climates) and even for technology (with geolocators and satellite tracking being used to study the long journeys of birds).
Johns regrets that he often has to write about the many problems faced by birds, such as the lack of nesting holes for swifts. He does, however, notice encouraging progress: lockdown created an urgent desire to get out and reconnect to nature. As a result, an increasing number of people now feed birds and take care of them. Moving back to swifts, the lack of nesting holes is currently being made up for by nest boxes designed and installed by individuals and organizations willing to protect nature.
We were thrilled to translate the book Screamer the Swift
and to make our small contribution to environmental awareness in French-speaking countries. If you want to learn more about John’s work, please visit his website: https://www.chickbooks.co.uk/.
Thank you for reading!
To read the French translation of Screamer the Swift, click here.
To read this article in French, click here.
Une question ? Écrivez-nous !
Isabelle Collombat, directrice de l’École supérieure d’interprètes et de traducteurs (ESIT)
Vous le savez sûrement déjà, SKS Traduction est domiciliée à Versailles. Outre le château et ses jardins, c’est la Maison des entreprises de Versailles Grand Parc qui nous a fait quitter la capitale. Le bureau que nous louons est dédié à notre activité entrepreneuriale et nous offre une belle alternative au télétravail. La pépinière s’est révélée idéale pour notre activité : abordable et conviviale, elle nous permet aussi de rencontrer d’autres entrepreneur·ses tout en gardant notre indépendance dans un bureau individuel. S’ajoutent à cela des infrastructures modernes, une équipe très sympathique, des food-trucks pour des repas en plein air et même un joli potager aménagé par nos soins. Nous ne pouvions rêver mieux !
Récemment, SKS Traduction a eu la chance de traduire un ouvrage passionnant : Screamer the Swift . Ce récit illustré, qui retrace la longue migration d’un martinet entre la Grande-Bretagne et le Mozambique, fait partie de la collection Chick Books , une série de livres destinée à sensibiliser les enfants à la sauvegarde de l’environnement. Nous nous sommes entretenues avec son auteur, John Miles, qui a consacré sa vie à la protection de nombreuses espèces d’oiseaux.
À l'occasion de la Journée mondiale de la traduction, SKS Traduction a répondu aux questions de l’équipe Lingua, la junior entreprise de l’École Supérieure d’Interprètes et de Traducteurs.
Le mois des fiertés a pour nous été l’occasion d’écouter, de nous informer et d’échanger sur des sujets qui nous tiennent à cœur. Ainsi, dans le cadre de notre réflexion sur l’écriture inclusive, nous avons eu la chance de rencontrer virtuellement Isabelle Meurville, traductrice, consultante et formatrice experte en rédaction non sexiste et inclusive.
