ESFS Award to Kersti Juva

The European Science Fiction Society’s awards were presented last weekend at Shamrokon in Dublin. Among the winners is Kersti Juva, who received the best translator award.

Juva is best known as the Finnish translator of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. Her first translation of a novel was The Lord of the Rings trilogy (parts I–II, 1973–75) with Eila Pennanen. She has translated nearly all of Tolkien’s works: The Silmarillion (1979), The Hobbit (1985), Unfinished Tales (1986), The Father Christmas Letters (2004) and The Children of Húrin (2007).

Other notable translations by Juva:

• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne (1998)
• The Life and Adventured of Nicholas Nickleby (1992) and Bleak House (2006) by Charles Dickens
• Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (1975)
• Watership Down by Richard Adams (1975)

She has also translated plays and radio dramas, e.g. the very popular The Men from the Ministry for The Finnish National Broadcasting Company. The translations of Kersti Juva make up the Finnish Tolkien canon and the Finnish subtitles for the Peter Jackson movies are based on her work.

Juva has received several awards for her translations, and has lectured in several universities on translating.