Laura Vilardell, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor of Translation and Spanish Studies at Northern Illinois University.
- Faculty Fellow, University of Honors Program (2024)
- Member of the Research and Development Project on “Catalan Translation in the 21st Century” (PID2024-156306NB-C22) for the period 2025–2030.
Education
- Ph.D., University of Vic, 2013. Program on Translation, Languages, and Literatures. Cum Laude.
- M.A., University of Vic, 2011. Methodology and Translation Analysis
- B.A., University of Vic, 2004–2008. Translation and Interpreting
Selected Publications
- Vilardell, Laura. 2022. Books against Tyranny: Catalan Publishers under Franco. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. 214 pages in length.
- Vilardell, Laura. 2024. "Eco-translatology in the English Translation of Platero y yo, by Juan Ramón Jiménez, Published by The Dolphin Book (1956)". Translation Studies and Ecology: Mapping the possibilities of a New Emerging Field, edited by Maria Dasca and Rosa Cerarols. London: Routledge, pp. 182-202.
- Vilardell, Laura. 2024. "Intralingual translation in subtitles and reception: The case of the movie Roma". The Routledge Handbook of Intralingual Translation, edited by Linda Pillière, Özlem Berk Albachten. New York: Routledge, pp. 164-180.
- Vilardell, Laura. 2024. "Joan Gili, The Dolphin Book Company i la teoria de l’eco-traducció" [Joan Gili, The Dolphin Book Company and the Theory of Eco-Translation]. Quaderns, Revista de Traducció, no. 29, pp. 73-85.
Research Interests
I am an associate professor at the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Northern Illinois University. My research interests focus on the history of publishing through the lens of reception, censorship, eco-translation, translation studies and attention studies. In my research, I utilize archives and field methods, such as interviews, and bring the results to the classroom when teaching Spanish culture and conversation courses, as well as translation courses and a Catalan culture course for honors.
My latest book, Books Against Tyranny (Vanderbilt University Press, 2022), explores the challenges Catalan publishers faced under the Franco regime in Spain. In the book, I investigate how the Catalan language, prohibited in public events and schools during that time, was kept alive through translations into this language.
My current project is a multidisciplinary book on The Dolphin Book Company (1935–1996), a bookstore and publishing house that introduced well-renowned authors, such as Federico García Lorca and Juan Ramón Jiménez, in English translation. The goal of the project is to understand the attention strategies and impact of the firm and its translations on society.
Research and Development Projects
I have been part of four research and development projects: two funded by the Catalan government (2009–2012 and 2014–2017) and two from the Ministry of Science and Innovation (2008–2011 and 2011–2014). Recently, I received a grant from the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes, Generalitat de Catalunya, to write a book about Josep M. Boix i Selva, director of Vergara Publishing House. The book focuses on the publishing house's series of translations into Catalan ("Isard") and its struggles with censorship. I am currently a member of the Project entitled “La traduccion catalana en el siglo XXI: la construcción de un nuevo canon literario y cultural femenino y feminista” [Catalan Translation in the 21st Century: the construction of a new feminine and feminist literary and cultural cannon] from the i+D+I Spain’s Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Fundació Universitària Balmes (PID2024-156306NB-C22) for the period 2025–2030.
