Our Authors

CHRIS CONKLING

Chris Conkling co-wrote the screenplay for Ralph Bakshi’s version of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, is fluent in English and Japanese, and spent eight years translating Homer’s Iliad. He taught at the American Jewish University Los Angeles and Los Angeles public high schools (English as a second language, English, and journalism) for twelve years. He attended Dartmouth College, BYU, UCLA, CSUN, and earned a Masters from Cal State University, Dominguez Hills where his thesis was named “best on campus.”

CALVIN WESTFALL

Calvin Westfall is a Southern California native who loves languages, sports, and tacos in equal amounts. He recently graduated from BYU with degrees in Spanish Translation and European Studies, and is currently pursuing an MA of Spanish with a specialization in Hispanic Linguistics. Having lived in Spain for three years, he speaks not only standard Spanish but also Catalan. He is the president of the BYU Translation & Localization Club and is an editor and contributor for the Spanish & Portuguese Department journal Entremundos.

RAQUEL ALVAREZ

Raquel Alvarez is an aspiring cook and pianist who was born and raised in Southern California where she graduated from Sylmar High School as valedictorian. She is bi-lingual and has also travelled widely throughout Latin America. She graduated from UCLA in English language and literature, summa cum laude and has just completed her M.A. from Johns Hopkins University in Teaching Writing. At UCLA, she was the only undergraduate course reader in the medieval literature department (all others were graduate students). She has tutored privately in math and languages for over a decade, and is a credentialed teacher in Los Angeles where she will teach English Language Arts in a gifted/Magnet school. She has also taught English immersion to Korean students for several years.

ALINE VILARINHO

Aline Vilarinho was raised in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Brazil, and moved to the United States in 1999. She studied English as a second language and graduated with a B.A. in humanities and music studies, and has worked on a second degree in speech pathology. Since graduating, she has volunteered as an English teacher to Brazilians and with an International rescue community to help refugees assimilate to American Culture. Further, Aline has been hired to do translation and voice over work in Portuguese for several companies.

GAETANA CUMMAUDO

Born and raised in Italy, she has earned her M.A. in Linguistics and a TESOL Certificate from Brigham Young University, where she also taught Italian for 5 years. She has been a translator, interpreter, voice recorder and recently taught at Salt Lake Community College. Currently she is a free lance instructor.

NINAJO SANDSTROM

Ninajo grew up in beautiful northern Utah. With both parents fluent, she learned German young and went on to study it scholastically and in Germany for a time. Aside from her love of the German language , she's a wife, lover of the arts, singer/songwriter and entrepreneur.