Booker Prize: The international-shortlisted literary translator who 'sneaks in' Scottish words

Scottish translator Barbara J Haveland, who is nominated for the major award for her translation of On the Calculation of Volume I by Danish author Solvej Balle, said she liked to use words including “outwith” and “forenoon”, as well as “swither” at least once in each of her translations.

The novel, the first of a seven-part series by Ms Balle, is one of six books in the running for the title. It made the cut from the longlist to the shortlist last month, scooping a prize of £2,500-£5,000 for the author and £2,500 for the translator.

The overall winning International Booker Prize book will be revealed at a ceremony at Tate Modern in London on Tuesday.

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Ms Haveland said: “I have this thing - and I have had for all of these 33 years [that I’ve worked as a translator]. In every book I will try try my absolute best to get into sneaking in at least an ‘outwith’ or a ‘forenoon’.

“It's a little thing with me that I try to get in at least once, and all of these editors come along and say ‘what is this word?’ And I always argue the case for it. It’s a little point of pride with me.”

The book, which was originally self-published in Denmark by Ms Balle and became a word-of-mouth phenomenon, is part of a septology that sees the protagonist stuck in the same day. The first three volumes were snapped up in a six-way auction by Faber in the UK and the original Danish version won the 2022 Nordic Council Literature Prize.

Ms Haveland said she had been about to retire when Ms Balle, whom she had worked with almost 30 years earlier, contacted her. She has now agreed to translate the second volume of the series, but insists she will pass on the mantel to another translator for Volume III onwards.

“I've been lucky over the 30 years I've been translating literary fiction to have some great books come across my desk,” she said. “There are ones I’ve been very enthusiastic about, but this is something else.

“Honestly, I thought ‘oh, God, if there's one book I have to do as my last book, it just has to be this, because it's just amazing’.”

Ayrshire-born Ms Haveland, who is based in Copenhagen, translates fiction, poetry and drama from Danish and Norwegian to English. If the book were to win, she would scoop a £25,000 prize. Ms Balle would take home the same amount.

Former bookseller Ms Haveland, who cites her greatest literary inspiration as her former high school English teacher, author William McIlvanney, has translated works by Danish and Norwegian writers, both classic and contemporary, including Henrik Ibsen, Peter Høeg, Linn Ullmann and Carl Frode Tiller.

Ms Haveland and Ms Balle both believe there has been a surge of interest in translated fiction, partly due to an increase in popularity of subtitled film and TV on streaming platforms such as Netflix.

Ms Balle said: “I felt in the 1990s, there was a huge gap between at least a lot of European literature and the British American literature. But I just think we've got closer to each other literature wise more recently.”

The overall winning book is chosen by a panel of judges including prize-winning poet, director and photographer Caleb Femi; writer and publishing director of Wasafiri Sana Goyal; author and International Booker Prize-shortlisted translator Anton Hur; and award-winning singer-songwriter Beth Orton.