Laura Woolley-Núñez

About

I'm a PhD student in Translation and Transcultural Studies funded by the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (2022—2026). My research is supervised by Dr Olga CastroLink opens in a new window from the School of Modern Languages and Cultures and Professor Maureen FreelyLink opens in a new window from the Warwick Writing Programme. I'm currently completing a placement funded by Midlands4Cities with the Stephen Spender Trust,Link opens in a new window on Developing Effective and Sustainable Partnerships between Researchers and Third-Sector Organisations.Link opens in a new window

Research

This practice-based autoethnographic thesis investigates trauma-informed feminist translation strategies through my English translation of Memoria de la melancolía (1970) by María Teresa León (1903–1988). León was a prominent member of the Spanish Generación del 27, and an antifascist writer and activist who defended the Second Republic (1931–1939) during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). Her memoir, Memoria de la melancolía, responds to the systematic erasure of individual and collective memory under Francoism and the author’s progressive memory degradation, and has not been translated into English. It offers an essential account of the war and its aftermath while bearing witness to multiple forms of violence, including gender-based violence and child sexual abuse (CSA). The role of feminist translation in disentangling interlocking systems of oppression and discrimination provides a productive framework to challenge the reduced visibility of women’s testimonies of the war and exile during Franco’s dictatorship (1939–1975). Despite the crucial role of translation in circulating memory narratives across linguistic and national borders, limited attention has been paid to how feminist translation practice can mediate autobiographical accounts of historical and personal trauma. Thus, this thesis asks how feminist translation strategies can recover and recirculate Spanish antifascist women’s testimonies of the war and exile to make this historical context accessible to English-speaking audiences. Rather than treating trauma as merely a textual feature, this thesis positions it as an aspect that fundamentally shapes translation decisions, reconceptualising how feminist translation can be practised in contexts involving historical trauma and leading to a trauma-informed translation practice that echoes established trauma-informed paradigms used in therapeutic and pedagogical spaces. In doing so, this thesis extends existing feminist translation theory while contributing to current interdisciplinary debates on feminist translation, memory, trauma and women’s testimonies of war and exile.

Research Interests

• Transnational feminist translation studies

• Feminist translation strategies

• Practice-based translation research

• Memory and/in translation

• Writing and translating exile

• Autofiction and life writing

• Testimonies of violent pasts and trauma in translation

• Literary translation

Publications

Woolley-Núñez, Laura (forthcoming 2028) “Translating María Teresa León’s Memoria de la melancolía: agency and affective labour from an autoethnographic perspective” in Sofía Monzón and Lucie Spezzatti (eds.) The Politics of Affect in Literary Translation. Benjamins.

Woolley-Núñez, Laura (forthcoming 2027) “Fragmentary Memories in Feminist Translation: María Teresa León’s Antifascist Spanish Memoir as a Case in Point”, Translation Matters.

Woolley-Núñez, Laura (forthcoming 2026) “Romero López, Dolores; Irene Atalaya (Eds.). Más retratos de traductoras en la modernidad. Guillermo Escolar, 2026, 318 pp., ISBN 979-13-87789-54-1”, Hikma, 25 (2), 1–5.

Conferences

"Reconstructing Fragmentary Memories in the Translation of María Teresa León’s Feminist Memoir of Resistance." – Translation and Memory: Constructing Publics, Pasts, and CulturesLink opens in a new window, ACLA Annual MeetingLink opens in a new window, 26 February – 1 March 2026 (Montréal, Canada)

"Translating María Teresa León’s Memoria de la melancolía from a Feminist Perspective" – 6th European Colloquium on Gender and Translation, Encounters between Intersectional Feminisms and Translation & Interpreting, 8-10 July 2025 (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

"Embodied Autoethnography as a Feminist Translation Practice" – 11th EST CongressLink opens in a new window, The Changing Faces of Translation and Interpreting StudiesLink opens in a new window. 30 June – 4 July 2025 (University of Leeds)

Panellist in "Speaking the Dead: Reviving Voices from the Past" with Professor Bill Johnston and Dr Gary Racz, moderated by Dr Lisa Bradford – ALTA47: Voices in TranslationLink opens in a new window, 25-28 October 2024 (Milwaukee, WI, US)

Panellist in "What Makes a Feminist Translation? Feminist Translation Exchange"Link opens in a new window (Birmingham Literature Festival 2024) with Professor Marilyn Booth, Professor Catherine Boyle and Professor Thomas Glave, moderated by Dr Hilary Brown, organised by the Feminist Translation NetworkLink opens in a new window, 5 October 2024 (University of Birmingham)

“Exploring Memory, Exile and Trauma through the Translation of a Spanish Memoir (1970)” – II Lisbon Spring School of Translation StudiesLink opens in a new window, 3-8 June 2024 (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)

"Exploring feminist translation strategies in María Teresa León’s Memory of Melancholia" – International Postgraduate Conference in Translation and Interpreting 2023Link opens in a new window, 23-24 November 2023 (Heriot-Watt University)

"Translating testimonies of patriarchal violence: Memoria de la melancolía by María Teresa León" – WISPS XXIII Annual Conference Gender + ViolenceLink opens in a new window, 10-11 November 2023 (University of Warwick)

"Translating María Teresa León’s Memory of Melancholy" – Midlands4Cities Research Festival 2023Link opens in a new window, 4 October 2023 (Austin Court, Birmingham)

"Sites of Resistance in the Translation of Spanish Antifascist Autobiographical Writing" – When I Dare To Be Powerful International ConferenceLink opens in a new window, 21 June 2023 (Nottingham Trent University)

Events

Co-organiser of the 18th International Postgraduate Conference in Translation and Interpreting Link opens in a new window(IPCITI 2025), 13-14 November, University of Warwick

Organiser, Lit Translation Workshops which are open to research students and staff interested in literary translation practice (2022 – present). See the programme for 2023/24 here.Link opens in a new window

Attended Bristol TranslatesLink opens in a new window summer school, 3-7 July 2023 (University of Bristol)

Attended Warwick School of Feminist TranslationLink opens in a new window, 11-12 May 2023 (University of Warwick)

Chaired roundtable "Producing Totalitarism: Fascism in the Cultural Imaginary" – The Culture of Fascism SymposiumLink opens in a new window, 8 March 2023 (University of Warwick)

Teaching

2024-25:

LN102 Translation: Methods and Practice Link opens in a new window(Spanish tutor and first marker)

LN313 Undergraduate Translation ProjectLink opens in a new window (supervisor and first marker for projects with Spanish)

2023-24:

LN102 Translation: Methods and PracticeLink opens in a new window (Spanish tutor and first marker)

LN313 Undergraduate Translation ProjectLink opens in a new window (supervisor and first marker for projects with Spanish)

LN902 Translation Portfolio Link opens in a new window(Spanish tutor and first marker)

2022-23:

LN102 Translation: Methods and Practice (first marker for the Spanish-language pathway)

Scholarships and Awards

October 2022 — March 2026: Midlands4CitiesLink opens in a new window DTP scholarship (AHRC)

Qualifications

• MA Literary Translation, 2021 (University of Warwick)
• BA Journalism with Education, 2019 (University of Ulster)

Memberships

• Feminist Translation Network
• Women in Spanish and Portuguese Studies (WISPS)
• Society of Authors and Translators' Association
• Emerging Translators Network
• Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI)
  
• Sensitive Research Group
• ROLES: Sexuality & Gender Studies Network