Jane Davis

I was born on the Isle of Man, where historically the Celtic and Norse worlds met, and I've always been fascinated by language; both my own first language of English and others. And at the age of 12, my German teacher told me I had "Sprachgefühl": a feeling for languages.

But my academic career took a different direction and I went on to study archaeology at degree and postgraduate level, with the intention of working in museums.

In 2003 I moved to central France, where I quickly became fluent in French. A few years later I moved again, to Sweden, and in 2009 I realised that my seemingly erratic career path had in fact been leading up to my dream job – as a professional freelance translator.​

I mostly translate non-fiction, but in recent years I've also translated two novels and edited/proofread a third. In 2022 I finally put together a book of short stories, some of them set on my native island.