Anthea Bell OBE (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 known for her numerous translations, including Austerlitz one of the most significant German language works of fiction for the period since the Second World War, and of the French Asterix comics along with co-translator Derek Hockridge.
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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.
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. She also translated the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke. 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 Krabat.
Bell has also translated many 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, Wladyslaw Szpilman's memoir The Pianist, and E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr have been well received.
Bell was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to literature and literary translations.[1]
The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is unusual in that it is given to a publisher yet it explicitly references a given work, its translator and author. Its intent is to encourage the translation of children's works into English in order "to eliminate barriers to understanding between people of different cultures, races, nations, and languages."
Anthea Bell, translating from German, French and Danish, has been referenced for more works than any other (including publishers) in the history of the award:
| Year | Publisher | Title | Author | Translator | Original Language | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Henry Z. Walck | The Cat and Mouse Who Shared a House | Ruth Hürlimann | Anthea Bell | German | Winner[2] |
| 1979 | Franklin Watts, Inc | Konrad | Christine Nöstlinger | Anthea Bell | German | Winner[2] |
| 1990 | E.P. Dutton | Buster's World | Bjarne Reuter | Anthea Bell | Danish | Winner[2] |
| 1995 | E.P. Dutton | The Boys from St.Petri | Bjarne Reuter | Anthea Bell | Danish | Winner[2] |
| 2006 | Phaidon Press Limited | Nicholas | René Goscinny | Anthea Bell | French | Honor[2] |
| 2008 | Phaidon Press | Nicholas and the Gang | René Goscinny | Anthea Bell | French | Honor[2] |
| 2009 | Amulet Books | Tiger Moon | Antonia Michaelis | Anthea Bell | German | Honor[3] |