I’m writing this from New Orleans, replete with local food, watching the riverboats and unwinding after the American Translators Association’s annual conference.

No, I’m not just trying to make you jealous. This is all relevant information, I promise.

The ATA conference is fun and productive every year, but this year one of my favorite moments came before the conference even began. I arrived early on Wednesday, dropped my bags at the hotel, and set off with a clear goal in mind: visit the Faulkner House.

This building was once the boardinghouse where Nobel laureate William Faulkner wrote his first novel. Today, his old room is a cozy little bookstore called Faulkner House Books (capacity: 12 people). I don’t have the space, time, or budget for all the books I want to buy on a given day, so bookshops are dangerous. But of course I had to go in and take a peek.

I already own the novels that Faulkner wrote there, so I was determined to simply browse and then take my leave… but then the intimidatingly brilliant woman watching the shop asked me what I was in town for. Things went down like this:

“I’m here for the American Translators Association conference.”
“What language do you translate?”
“Japanese to English.”
*her eyes light up* “Oh! Lafcadio Hearn!”
*my eyes light up* “Yes! Yes, exactly!”

I’ve heard a lot of responses to my job and my language pair. No one else has ever responded with, “Oh! Lafcadio Hearn!” This immediately and officially became my favorite response ever. It charmed my socks right off me.

When I asked her if she had any Lafcadio Hearn, she brought me this:

I’d only ever heard of Lafcadio Hearn in the context of his work documenting the spirits and ghosts of Japan. But as it turns out, he was also an influential writer in and about New Orleans.

So now I’m in Faulkner’s old apartment in the Big Easy, finding out an author I respect for Japanese reasons is actually a New Orleans writer, and realizing that if I buy this book, I can go to a café and read about 1800s New Orleans while drinking coffee with chicory? Bonus: he was also a translator.

Yes, she made the sale. I paid the full list price and have no regrets.

Best translator moment ever.

PS – The alleyway outside Faulkner House was swarming with bees instead of mosquitoes, but it was close enough to make me smile.