Maryse Warda was born and raised in Egypt. She landed in Montreal at age nine where she learned English watching Happy Days. In 1991, Pierre Bernard, artistic director of the Théâtre de Quat’Sous, hired her as his assistant, and gave her a first shot at translation – Cindy Lou Johnson’s Brilliant Traces – thus changing the course of her life. 

She has since translated more than 70 plays. She was instrumental in bringing the works of Canadian writers such as Daniel Brooks, John Mighton, Morris Panych, Erin Shields and George F. Walker to francophone audiences. She has also translated works from American, British, Irish and Scottish playwrights such as Christopher Durang, Margaret Edson, David Greig, David Hare, David Mamet, Douglas Maxwell, Harold Pinter, Philip Ridley and Simon Stephens. Her translations are celebrated for being faithful to the original, while making effective yet unostentatious use of the Quebec idiom.

Her translation of George F. Walker’s Suburban Motel series earned her an award in 2000 from the Académie québécoise du théâtre, and was shortlisted for the 2001 Governor General’s Literary Award. But it’s her translation of Greg MacArthur’s The Toxic Bus Incident which received the GG in 2011.