Fifteen years
full-time translaion
of literature
I started working full-time as a translator of literature fifteen years ago. Since then I have translated fantasy novels, crime stories, books for young adults, romance, an autobiography and a role playing game involving vampires.
Fifteen years full-time translation of literature
I started working full-time as a translator of literature fifteen years ago. Since then I have translated fantasy novels, crime stories, books for young adults, romance, an autobiography and a role playing game involving vampires.
I was born and raised in Hannover but as I have lived in Hamburg ever since leaving school, I now consider myself a true Hamburger. I feel a bit Greek as well, sometimes, because I get to spend part of each year in a little village high up on the mountains of the beautiful Pelion peninsula that is part of mainland Greece.
Authors include Nalini Singh, Robert Dugoni, Charlaine Harris, Tanya Huff, Jim Butcher and others. A complete of now more than 60 titles can be found under Translations.
I spent a year as a foreign exchange student Upstate New York, studied English at the University of Hamburg and have traveled extensively in English-speaking countries. Many English-speaking friends allow me to practice their language and keep my vocabulary up to date. They also kindly supply me with books, something I am deeply grateful for because I used to be a bookseller and am still addicted to the printed page.
I studied English, Chinese and History at the University of Hamburg, already doing a bit of translating and interpreting. Job training as bookseller plus the first literary translations came next. I loved those translations but soon did not find much time for them any longer, working as I did in small, independent bookstores. I learned a lot about literature and the book market though, especially after opening my own shop.
Together with a friend I founded and for five years ran Seitenweise, a bookstore that is today, more than twenty years later, still very much alive and kicking, a successful and well respected part of the book scene in Hamburg.
I owe a large part of my fondness for the English language to a wonderful teacher who helped me overcome my fear of the first foreign language by making the journey into strange sounds and habits fun and an adventure. The curiosity she excited in many of her students has stayed with me ever since and I love the English language in all its shapes and forms.
Most of the writers I have translated so far live in the USA or Canada, but I feel comfortable with any kind of literature written in English. The non fiction work I did introduced me to people writing in English as their second language. I enjoyed that a lot.