Our favourite translation heroine, the "grand dame" Anthea Bell, has been awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her
great and lasting contribution to the promotion of German literature and
services to translation.
You can read the ambassador's speech here, and while you're at it you can also read a rather fabulous Guardian article about her here. Anthea translated the first German book I read, The Factory Made Boy by Christine Nöstlinger. And of course she also did the Asterix series, with such incredible aplomb. And Sebald, and Freud, and Ruge, and Biller, and Funke, and Stanisic, and Franck, and just so many good writers that it's hard to stop. One of my favourite impressive things about Anthea Bell (OBE) is that she was a single mother when she started translating seriously, and raised two sons on the proceeds.
Three cheers for Anthea Bell!
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