Anthea Bell

Anthea Bell (born 1936) is a British translator who has translated numerous literary works, especially children's literature, from French, German, Danish and Polish to English. She is, however, best known for her translations of the French "Asterix" comics along with co-translator Derek Hockridge.

Biography

Bell was born in Suffolk, United Kingdom. According to her own accounts, she picked up lateral thinking abilities essential in a translator from her father Adrian Bell, Suffolk author and the first "Times" cryptic crossword setter. She was educated at Somerville College, Oxford.

She presently lives and works from Cambridge, United Kingdom. Her son, Oliver Kamm, is a columnist for "The Times". Her brother, Martin Bell, is a former MP and a former BBC correspondent, who is now an ambassador for UNICEF.

Works

Anthea Bell has translated numerous Franco-Belgian comics of the bande dessinée genre into English, most notably "Asterix" – for which her innovative new puns have been critically acclaimed for keeping the original French spirit intact. Other notable comic books she has translated include "Le Petit Nicolas", "Lieutenant Blueberry", and "Iznogoud".

She specializes in translating children's literature, and has re-translated Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales from Danish for the publishing house of G. P. Putnam's Sons. Other work includes "The Princess and the Captain" (2006), translated from "La Princetta et le capitaine" by Anne-Laure Bondoux. A book aimed to the youth, but serious enough to be read by adults, "The Satanic Mill" by Otfried Preußler was translated by her from the German original " [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krabat_(Preußler) Krabat] ". Bell has also translated a large number of adult novels, as well as some books on art history, and musicology into English. Her translations of W.G. Sebald's "Austerlitz" (plus other works by Sebald), a large selection of Stefan Zweig's novellas and stories, and E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr" have been well received critically.

Notable awards

* 1996 – Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation – for "A Dog's Life" translated from German (author: Christine Nöstlinger)
* 2002 – Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize, Goethe Institute – for translating W.G. Sebald's "Austerlitz"
* 2002 – Independent Foreign Fiction Prize – for translating W.G. Sebald's "Austerlitz"
* 2003 – Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation – for "Where Were You Robert?" translated from German (author: Hans Magnus Enzensberger)
* 2007 – Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation – for "The Flowing Queen" translated from German (author: Kai Meyer)

References

* [http://www.asterix-international.de/asterix/mirror/asterix_my_love.htm Asterix, My Love - An article by Anthea Bell at the Asterix website]
* [http://www.literarytranslation.com/workshops/asterix/ Anthea Bell's workshop on Asterix]
* [http://people.brunel.ac.uk/~acsrrrm/entertext/4_3/bell_s.pdf Opening Speech, Anthea Bell, Shelving Translation Conference, April 2004 ]

External links

* [http://writerunboxed.com/2006/08/18/interview-anthea-bell-part-1/ Anthea Bell interview with "Writer Unboxed"]
* [http://www.bookslut.com/small_but_perfectly_formed/2005_02_004346.php Reviews of Anthea Bell's Stefan Zweig translations at "Bookslut"]