Anu Saluäär

Anu Saluäär (née Vaher; legally Anu Saluäär-Kall since 2011; born 16 September 1948) is an Estonian translator, editor and essayist.^[1] She is best known for translating Scandinavian literature, especially Swedish literature, into Estonian and for her long editorial work with the literary series Loomingu Raamatukogu, where she worked from 1976 to 2018 and served as editor-in-chief from 2008 to 2013.^[1] By 2023 she had translated more than fifty literary works and edited many more.^[2] Her honours include the Order of the White Star, 5th Class, the Vilhelm Moberg Society Prize, and the Edvin and Lembe Hiedel Editor's Award.^[3][4][5]

Saluäär was born in Tallinn and was educated there before studying Estonian language and literature at Tartu State University, graduating in 1972.^[1] In a 2023 radio interview, she recalled that she had decided as a child that she wanted to become a translator.^[2]

After graduating, Saluäär worked at the publishing house Eesti Raamat and then at the publishing department of the Estonian Academy of Sciences before joining Loomingu Raamatukogu in 1976.^[1] She remained with the series until 2018 and served as its editor-in-chief from 2008 to 2013; she has also been a member of the Estonian Writers' Union since 1992.^[1] ERR reported in 2023 that, over more than four decades at Loomingu Raamatukogu, she selected both translations and original texts for publication.^[2]

Saluäär's editorial work has received substantial professional recognition. When she received the Edvin and Lembe Hiedel Editor's Award in 2017, ERR described her as a longtime editor of Loomingu Raamatukogu and said that the prize was awarded for her long, distinguished and versatile editorial work.^[6] The Estonian Writers' Union describes the award more generally as one given for long-term, fruitful and notable editorial work in literature and intellectual history.^[5]

Saluäär has translated mainly from Swedish, but also from Norwegian and Danish and, more occasionally, from German, Finnish and Russian.^[1] She has also written afterwords and essays on Scandinavian literature; her essays were collected in Põhjamaadest ja Eestist (2008) and Lähedased rannad (2018).^[1]

Reviewing Põhjamaadest ja Eestist in Sirp, Janika Kronberg wrote that the volume formed a substantial and informative whole on literary contacts between Estonia and the Nordic countries, and argued that its value was increased by Saluäär's translations of excerpts from otherwise inaccessible Nordic texts.^[7] Kronberg had earlier reviewed Saluäär's Rändamisest ja väljarändamisest as a literary travelogue following Vilhelm Moberg and his fictional emigrants through North America.^[8]

Among the authors Saluäär has translated are Ingmar Bergman, Vilhelm Moberg, Käbi Laretei, Ulla-Lena Lundberg, Theodor Kallifatides, Albert Engström and Agneta Pleijel.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14]}

In 2015 ERR reported that Saluäär regarded her nearly decade-long translation of Moberg's four-volume Emigrants cycle as her principal translation project.^[15] Her translation of Moberg's Sisserändajad won the Estonian Cultural Endowment's annual award for literary translation in 2005.^[10] In an obituary for Laretei, Sirp described Saluäär as the principal translator of Laretei's Swedish-language work into Estonian.^[16]

Saluäär's work has also been visible in Nordic literary exchange outside straightforward book translation. In 2013 Norden introduced her at Estonian events devoted to Ulla-Lena Lundberg's work, including the presentation of Siber: tiivuline autoportree.^[17][18] In 2021 ERR reported that Loomingu Raamatukogu had given Saluäär its annual prize for her translation of Engström's Moskoviidid.^[19]

She has also helped to present Estonian literature in Swedish translation. In 2007 she was one of the selectors of the anthology Estland berättar, and with Maarja Talgre she translated Jaak Jõerüüt into Swedish.^[20][21]

• Estonian Writers' Union annual award (1990)^[1]
• Estonian Writers' Union translation award (1991)^[1]
• Estonian Cultural Foundation annual prize (1997)^[1]
• Order of the White Star, 5th Class (2001)^[3]
• Estonian Cultural Endowment annual literature award for translating Moberg's Sisserändajad (2005)^[10]
• Vilhelm Moberg Society Prize (2006)^[4]
• Order of the Polar Star (2006)^[1]
• E. W. Ponkala Foundation prize (2008)^[1]
• Edvin and Lembe Hiedel Editor's Award (2017)^[6][5]

• Rändamisest ja väljarändamisest (2007)^[1][8]
• Põhjamaadest ja Eestist. Kirjutisi 1987–2008 (2008)^[1][7]
• Palat nr. 6. Kaks artiklit "Loomingu Raamatukogu" ajaloost (with Sirje Olesk, 2017)^[1]
• Lähedased rannad. Kirjutisi 2008–2018 (2018)^[1]

• Ingmar Bergman, Stseenid ühest abielust (translation of Scenes from a Marriage, 1978)^[9]
• Vilhelm Moberg, the Emigrants tetralogy: Väljarändajad (2002), Sisserändajad (2005), Asunikud (2007), and Viimane kiri Rootsi (2009)^[15]
• Käbi Laretei, Otsekui tõlkes (2005)^[11]
• Ulla-Lena Lundberg, Siber: tiivuline autoportree (2013)^[12][17]
• Alf Henrikson, Saatuse sõrmed (2015)^[22]
• Albert Engström, Moskoviidid (2020)^[23][19]
• Theodor Kallifatides, Taplus Trooja pärast (2021)^[13]
• Agneta Pleijel, Kaksikportree: romaan Agatha Christiest ja Oskar Kokoschkast (2021)^[14][24]

• Media related to Anu Saluäär at Wikimedia Commons
• Anu Saluäär at the Estonian Writers' Online Dictionary