Anthea Bell was born on May 10, 1936, in Suffolk and died on October 18, 2018.

She was a British literary translator.

She was an English translator of numerous literary works, especially children’s literature, from French, German and Danish.

Her literary works include Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald, the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke and the French Asterix comics along with co-translator Derek Hockridge.

From her own words, Bell picked up lateral thinking abilities essential in a translator from her father Adrian Bell, Suffolk author and the first Times cryptic crossword setter.

Martin Bell, her brother is a former BBC correspondent who was an independent Member of Parliament for one parliamentary term.

She attended a boarding school in Bournemouth, then, she read English at Somerville College, Oxford.

Anthea Bell was married to the publisher and writer Antony Kamm from 1957 to 73.

Oliver Kammher, one of her two sons is journalist, a leader writer for The Times.

When her sons left home, she lived and worked in Cambridge.

Her son Oliver Kamm revealed his mother had entered a nursing home due to illness a year earlier posted in a December 2017 newspaper column, and “her great mind has now departed”.

Because she was forced retirement, the 37th book in the Asterix series, Asterix and the Chariot Race (published in October 2017), was translated by Adriana Hunter.

At the end of her book, there was a message of thanks from the publishers to Bell for “her wonderful translation work on Asterix over the years”.

Anthea Bell passed away at 82 years old.