Bonaventure Balla

Bonaventure Balla-Omgba is anAssistant Professor at Winston-Salem State University in NorthCarolina. He holds a PhD in French/Francophone Literature with a focuson Structuralist Semiotics, an MA inFrench, another MA in English andspeaks seven languages: French,English, Spanish, Beti, Latin,Japanese and Fang. He has been a trilingual translator (English-French-Spanish) for 28 years and is currently a member of theAmerican Translators Association (ATA). Dr. Balla has beena professor/instructor for 22 years in West Africa (13), France(1) and the US (8). He is the author of two collections of poemsentitled Astres et Désastres (in French Language published inBelgium), and Odes for Black Diamonds (in English) publishedin the US. He has also written and published several conferencepapers and articles in English and French. He is fi nishingwriting two books: Euphoria and Dysphoria, and The Keysof Translation “Science.” Additionally, he is a black belt inKarate and has been practicing and teaching it for 27 years. Heis an active member of several professional organizations.