Pilar Ramírez Tello (born 1976 in Granada) is an English–Spanish translator of technical, literary and legal texts. She translated The Hunger Games and the Divergent series to Spanish.
Early life In 1994, Ramírez Tello studied at the University of Granada to pursue a degree in translation and interpreting. In 1999, after graduating, she extended her training by obtaining a master's degree in comparative literature and translation in the University of Binghamton, State of New York. A few years after finishing her master's degree, she devoted herself to full-time literary translation.
Career She translated more than fifty books for publishers such as RBA, Salamandra and Penguin Random House. In addition to producing literary translations, she works as a freelance translator, and has worked for a year and a half as an adjunct professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages at Binghamton University.
"Sinsajo" Tello created the term "sinsajo", the iconic bird of the dystopian science fiction novel The Hunger Games. This word would later provide the Spanish title to the two last films of the saga. She has explained in several interviews the process involved in creating this word, whose English equivalent is ‘Mockingjay.’
In the story, Mockingjays were created essentially by accident. The father of the species was the jabberjay, a breed of exclusively male birds that were created as mutations by the Capitol. Initially created to eavesdrop on rebels during the Dark Days, jabberjays had the ability to memorize entire conversations and repeat them back to their Capitol handlers. However, once the rebels realized this, they simply fed endless lies to the birds, and sent them back loaded with false information. After the lies were discovered, the Capitol shut down the operation and the jabberjays were released into the wild, in the hope that they would die off. Eventually, they did die off, but not before passing on their genetic code by mating with female mockingbirds. This was unforeseen, because no one expected the jabberjays to be able to reproduce with other bird species. The offspring were called mockingjays. In Spanish "jabberjay" can be translated as "charlajo", meaning "a bird that can talk" ("charla") and "mockingjay" in Spanish is "sinsonte". So she combined these two names to create the new species: "sinsajo".
Translated books +Translations by Ramírez TelloAuthorTitleSpanish TitlePublisherYearAsimov, IsaacThe Complete RobotAlamut2008Banks, Iain M.Against a Dark BackgroundLa factoria de ideas2005Barker, CliveBooks of BloodLa factoría de ideas2004Beukes, LaurenThe Shining GirlsRBA2013Borchardt, AliceThe Wolf KingLa factoría de ideas2003Bowman, ErinTakenAlmuzara2008Broderik, DamienGodplayersLa factoría de ideas2003Brooks, MaxWorld War ZAlmuzara2008Carter, AllyHeist SocietyRBA2011Collins, SuzanneHunger GamesLos Juegos del HambreRBA2009Catching FireEn LlamasRBA2010MockingjaySinsajoRBA2011Year of the JungleRBA2013Connolly, JohnThe Book of Lost ThingsOniro2008Crowley, CathGraffiti MoonRBA2011de Board, AlietteXuya UniverseFata Libelli2014Dixon, NellBlue Remembered HeelsAlgaida2010Houck, ColleenTiger's QuestRBA2011Tiger's VoyageRBA2012Tiger's DestinyRBA2013Hunt, StephenThe Kingdom Beyond the WavesOniro2009LaZebnik, ClaireEpic FailRBA2012MacHale, D.J.Pendragon: The Merchant of DeathEl mercader de la muerteTropismos2006Pendragon: The Lost City of FaarLa ciudad perdida de FaarTropismos2007Pendragon: The Never WarLa guerra que nunca existióTropismos2022MacLeod, Ian R.The Light AgesLa factoría de ideas2005Magorian, MichelleJust HenryOniro2009Matheson, RichardShort StoriesGigamesh2008Born of Man and WomanGigamesh2014McKinney, MeaganTill Dawn Tames the NightNefer2007Fair is the RoseNefer2008Pratchett, TerryThe Wee Free MenAlmuzura2008Resnick, MikeTomb Raider: The Amulet of PowerLa factoría de ideas2004Reynolds, AlastairChams CityLa factoría de ideas2004Riordan, RickPercy Jackson's Greek GodsSalamandra2015Roth, VeronicaDivergentDivergenteRBA2011InsurgentInsurgenteRBA2012AllegiantLealRBA2014FourCuatroRBA2015Skemp, EthanMagickeepersLa factoría de ideas2002Smith, CraigThe Painted MessiahAlgaida2010The Blood LanceAlgaida2010Tahir, SabaaAn Ember in the AshesMontena2015Waters, DanielGeneration DeadRBA2009Kiss of LikeRBA2010Passing StrangeRBA2011Wells, H.G.The Invisible ManRBA2012The Island of Doctor MoreauRBA2012Wiseman, Richard59 secondsRBA2010Yancey, RickThe Fifth WaveLa Quinta OlaRBA2013The Infinite SeaRBA2014The Last StarRBA2016
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