Laura Watkinson is a British literary translator. She studied languages at

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. ...

, and has obtained some postgraduate qualifications since. She has taught at the

University of Erlangen-Nuremberg A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

and

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

. Watkinson translates from Dutch, Italian and German languages into English, ranging from children's picture books and graphic novels to science and history. Since 2003 she has lived in the Netherlands, as of 2012 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

.''Watkinson wins 2015 Vondel Translation Prize'' She founded the Dutch chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Watkinson's publishers won the American Library Association

Mildred L. Batchelder Award The Mildred L. Batchelder Award, or Batchelder Award, is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the publisher of the year's "most outstanding" children's book translated into English-language, English and published ...

three times in four years from 2012 to 2015. Thus the

Association for Library Service to Children The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is a division of the American Library Association. ALSC has over 4,000 members, including children, experts in children's literature, publishers, faculty members, and other adults. The Associa ...

annually recognizes the most outstanding children's book newly published in the U.S. in English translation. All three were picture books translated from Dutch. Another of her translations from Dutch was a runner-up for the 2014 award. In 2015 she won the British biennial Vondel Translation Prize for her translation of

Tonke Dragt Antonia "Tonke" Johanna Dragt (; 12 November 1930 – 12 July 2024) was a Dutch writer and illustrator of children's literature. Her book ''De brief voor de koning'' was chosen by Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek, CPNB as the best ...

's ''De brief voor de koning''.

Projects

Cees Nooteboom Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria "Cees" Nooteboom (; born 31 July 1933) is a Dutch novelist, poet and journalist. After the attention received by his novel '' Rituals'' (''Rituelen'', 1980), which won the Pegasus Prize, it was the first of his n ...

- ''Roads to Berlin'' (MacLehose Press) * Jan van Mersbergen - ''Tomorrow Pamplona'' ( Peirene Press) * Karlijn Stoffels - ''Heartsinger'' (Arthur A. Levine Books) Batchelder Award citations All four books were published in the U.S. during the year preceding the award. All were originally published in Dutch. * 2012 winner – Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., ''Soldier Bear'', written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman * 2014 winner – Enchanted Lion Books, ''Mister Orange'', written by Truus Matti * 2014 honor – Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, ''The War Within These Walls'', written by Aline Sax, illustrated by Caryl Strzelecki * 2015 winner – Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, ''Mikis and the Donkey'', written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman * 2024 honor – Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, ''Later, When I'm Big'', written by Bette Westera, illustrated by Mattias De Leeuw.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watkinson, Laura Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford British expatriates in the Netherlands British translators British women writers Dutch–English translators German–English translators Italian–English translators