12 Facts About Anthea Bell

Anthea Bell was an English translator of literary works, including children's literature, from French, German and Danish.

Anthea Bell's mother, Marjorie Bell, was a home maker.

The couple's son, Anthea Bell's brother, Martin, is a former BBC correspondent who was an independent Member of Parliament for one parliamentary term.

Anthea Bell was married to the publisher and writer Antony Kamm from 1957 to 1973; the couple had two sons, Richard and Oliver.

Anthea Bell translated the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke and the Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier.

Anthea Bell translated into English many adult novels, as well as some books on art history, and musicology.

Anthea Bell contributed an essay titled "Translation: Walking the Tightrope of Illusion" to a 2006 book, The Translator as Writer, in which she explained her preference for 'invisible' translation whereby she creates the illusion that readers are not reading a translation "but the real thing".

Anthea Bell was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 New Year Honours for her services to literature and literary translations.

In 2014, Anthea Bell faithfully retranslated Erich Kastner's 1949 German children's novel Das doppelte Lottchen into English as The Parent Trap, after Disney's popular film adaptation of the book.

Anthea Bell's translation was published in the United Kingdom and Australia by Pushkin Press, replacing Cyrus Brooks' 1962 English translation, which is still published in the United States and Canada as Lisa and Lottie.

Anthea Bell received the German Federal Republic's Cross of Merit in 2015.

Anthea Bell, translating from German, French and Danish, has been mentioned for more works than any other individual or organisation in the history of the award:.