Lucy Brooks

Question and Answer

• What is your name?
  • Lucy Brooks
• Where do you live?
  • Worthing in the UK
• What made you decide to become a translator or interpreter?
  • It's something I always wanted to do but wasn't sure how to start out. Eventually I took the plunge and never looked back
• List one strength that you think sets you apart from your colleagues.
  • Ability to write well in my mother tongue
• Name the one thing that you most enjoy in your translating or interpreting career.
  • Being involved in a project as a member of the team, not just a nameless cog in a machine
• We all have worked on those not-so-perfect assignments. Write about one such assignment that was not ideal and what you learned from it.
  • I took on a job for which I wasn't prepared. To be fair, the client told me it was on a subject I am familiar with and at first it looked like that. But as I got further in, I realised I was out of my depth. I learned to know my limitations. It knocked my self-confidence, which sometimes is no bad thing. It keeps you on your toes.
• If you could go back in time to when you were just starting out as a translator or interpreter, what advice would you give to your younger self?
  • Be self-confident in your pricing strategy. Work out what you NEED to earn, and what you can do in the time available. From that you can work out what you need to charge.
• Name one resource – such as a phone app, CAT tool, website, and so forth – that you find especially helpful in your translating or interpreting work.
  • MemoQ
• What's the best book you've read this year?
  • A Man Called Ove

Read the New York Times bestseller that has taken the world by storm!

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him "the bitter neighbor from hell." But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

A feel-good story in the spirit of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Fredrik Backman's novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others. "If there was an award for 'Most Charming Book of the Year,' this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down" (Booklist, starred review).