Martin Aitken

Martin Aitken hails from the north of England and studied community theatre and creative writing in Newcastle before settling in Denmark. He holds a PhD in Linguistics and gave up academic tenure to translate Scandinavian literature. Since then he has translated a wealth of contemporary novels, short stories and occasionally poetry. His work, primarily from Danish and Norwegian, has been shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award (2017), the US National Book Awards (2018), the International Booker Prize (2021) and the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize (2022). He received the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s Nadia Christensen Prize in 2012, the PEN America Translation Prize in 2019 and the US National Translation Award in Prose in 2022. Authors whose work he translates include Olga Ravn, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Helle Helle, Hanne Ørstavik, Fine Gråbøl, Kim Leine, Josefine Klougart and Ida Jessen.