Anne Born (9 July 1924 – 27 July 2011) was a British poet, local historian, writer and translator.

Biography

Anne Rosemary Cookes was born in south

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 9 July 1924. She joined the

First Aid Nursing Yeomanry The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) (FANY (PRVC)) is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars. Its members wear a mili ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, and taught Morse code at the SOE at

Grendon Underwood Grendon Underwood is a village and civil parish in west Buckinghamshire, England, near the border with Oxfordshire. The village sits between Woodham and Edgcott, near the Roman road Akeman Street (now part of the A41), and around north-west o ...

, Bucks, where she met Povl Born, a Danish air force pilot. In 1946 they married and moved to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, where she studied English literature at the university. She became fluent in

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

, and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

. She began writing poetry and, at the same time, began translating Scandinavian writers into English, such as Hans Christian Andersen, Karen Blixen, Jens Christian Grøndahl,

Per Petterson Per Petterson (born 18 July 1952 in Oslo) is a Norwegian novelist. His debut book was ''Aske i munnen, sand i skoa'' (1987), a collection of short stories. He has since published a number of novels to good reviews. ''To Siberia'' (1996), set in ...

, Michael Larsen,

Janne Teller Janne Teller (born 8 April 1964 in Copenhagen) is a Danish writer of Austrian–German descent, who lives in New York and Berlin. Before she became a full-time writer she used to work as a conflict advisor for EU and UNO, mostly in Afri ...

, Stig Holmas,

Carsten Jensen Carsten Jensen (born 24 July 1952, Marstal, Denmark) is a Danish author and political columnist. He first earned recognition as a literary critic for the Copenhagen daily, ''Politiken.'' His novels, including ''I Have Seen the World Begin'' (199 ...

Sissel Lie Sissel Lie (born 12 November 1942) is a Norwegian novelist, translator, playwright and professor in Romance languages and literature at the University of Trondheim since 1992. Biography Sissel Lie was born in Kristiansand, in Vest-Agder county ...

, Henrik Stangerup, and Knud Hjortø. In the 1980s, she moved to

Salcombe Salcombe is a popular resort town in the South Hams district of Devon, south west England. The town is close to the mouth of the Kingsbridge Estuary, mostly built on the steep west side of the estuary. It lies within the South Devon Area o ...

, Devon, where she wrote books on local history. She founded the poetry publisher Overstep Books in 1992, and ran it until 2008.

Recognition

For her translation of

's ''Ut og stjæle hester'' as '' Out Stealing Horses'', she won the

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize The ''Independent'' Foreign Fiction Prize (1990–2015) was a British literary award. It was inaugurated by British newspaper ''The Independent'' to honour contemporary fiction in translation in the United Kingdom. The award was first launched i ...

and the

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

.Alwyn Marriage
Anne Born: 9 July 1924 – 17 July 2011
''Kingsbridge Gazette'', 12 August 2011 In 2013, the

Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

established a prize, the Anne Born Prize, in her memory. In its first year it was judged by Penelope Shuttle and won by Suzanne Batty.The Anne Born Prize
. Poetry Society. Accessed July 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Born, Anne 1924 births 2011 deaths University of Copenhagen alumni English women poets English historians Danish–English translators Norwegian–English translators 20th-century English poets 20th-century English women writers 20th-century British translators English women non-fiction writers British women historians British expatriates in Denmark