In this article, the author does not use translation as a metaphor of translation across (physical, cultural or linguistic) space or boundaries. Instead, she uses interlingual literary translation as providing an analogue for post-colonial writing. The two types of intercultural writing are essentially distinct, but they have enough points of contact that exploration of the two in tandem and comparison of the two results in new insights about both. In this article, the author discusses the differences and similarities between the two.