Daniel Hahn

{{short description|British writer, editor and translator (born 1973)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Daniel Hahn

| honorific_suffix = OBE

| image = Hayfestival-2016-Daniel-Hahn.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Hahn at the 2016 Hay Festival

| birth_name = Daniel Hahn

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1973|11|26|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, UK

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = British

| other_names =

| occupation = Author, editor, translator

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

Daniel Hahn {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} (born 26 November 1973) is a British writer, editor and translator.{{cite web |url=http://www.translatedfiction.org.uk/show/feature/Translation-Daniel-Hahn |title=Daniel Hahn |website=Translated Fiction |publisher=BookTrust |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808225831/http://www.translatedfiction.org.uk/show/feature/Translation-Daniel-Hahn |archive-date=8 August 2011 |url-status=dead}}

He is the author of a number of works of non-fiction, including the history book The Tower Menagerie,{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/mar/22/featuresreviews.guardianreview5 |title=Review: The Tower Menagerie by Daniel Hahn |last=Williams |first=Hywel |date=22 March 2003|work=The Guardian |language=en |access-date=17 August 2018}} and one of the editors of The Ultimate Book Guide, a series of reading guides for children and teenagers,{{cite web |url=http://www.ultimatebookguide.com/default.htm |title=The Ultimate Book Guide |website=The Ultimate Book Guide |access-date=16 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802132304/http://www.ultimatebookguide.com/default.htm |archive-date=2 August 2017 |url-status=dead}} the first volume of which won the Blue Peter Book Award. Other titles include Happiness Is a Watermelon on Your Head (a picture-book for children),{{Cite book |title=Happiness is a watermelon on your head |last1=Dreis |first1=Stella |last2=Hahn |first2=Daniel |isbn=9781907912054 |publication-place=London |oclc=757148898 |date=April 2013}} The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain and Ireland (a reference book), brief biographies of the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley, and a new edition of The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature.{{Cite book |title=The Oxford companion to children's literature |first1=Daniel |last1=Hahn |last2=Morpurgo |first2=Michael |author2-link=Michael Morpurgo |last3=Carpenter |first3=Humphrey |author3-link=Humphrey Carpenter |last4=Prichard |first4=Mari |isbn=9780199695140 |edition=Second |publication-place=Oxford |oclc=907725751 |year=2015}}

His translation of The Book of Chameleons{{cite web |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Daniel-Hahn/4996 |title=Daniel Hahn |website=Simon & Schuster |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021084353/https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Daniel-Hahn/4996 |archive-date=21 October 2020 |url-status=live}} by José Eduardo Agualusa won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007.{{cite news |last=Tonkin |first=Boyd |author-link=Boyd Tonkin |title='Independent' Foreign Fiction Prize won by Angolan writer |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/independent-foreign-fiction-prize-won-by-angolan-writer-447084.html |newspaper=The Independent on Sunday |date=2 May 2007 |access-date=28 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090322015222/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/independent-foreign-fiction-prize-won-by-angolan-writer-447084.html |archive-date=22 March 2009 }} His translation of A General Theory of Oblivion, also by José Eduardo Agualusa, won the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award, with Hahn receiving 25% of the €100,000 prize.{{Cite web |url=http://www.dublinliteraryaward.ie/news/the-2017-winner-is-announced/|title = The 2017 winner is announced! |website=Dublin Literary Award |date=21 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625011108/http://dublinliteraryaward.ie/news/the-2017-winner-is-announced/ |archive-date=25 June 2021 |url-status=live}} His other translations include Pelé's autobiography{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/prospero/2019/05/21/daniel-hahn-on-the-art-of-translation |title=Daniel Hahn on the art of translation |author= |date=21 May 2019 |newspaper=The Economist |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126080156/https://www.economist.com/prospero/2019/05/21/daniel-hahn-on-the-art-of-translation |archive-date=26 November 2020 |url-status=live}} and work by novelists José Luís Peixoto, Philippe Claudel, María Dueñas, José Saramago, Eduardo Halfon, Gonçalo M. Tavares, and others.

A former chair of the Translators Association and the Society of Authors, as well as national programme director of the British Centre for Literary Translation, he currently serves on the board of trustees of the Society of Authors and a number of other organisations working with literature, literacy and free expression, including English PEN, The Children's Bookshow and Modern Poetry in Translation.

In 2017, Hahn donated half his winnings from the International Dublin Literary Award to help establish a new prize for debut literary translation – the TA First Translation Prize.{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/hahn-donates-idla-prize-pot-fund-ta-first-translation-prize-573991 |title=Hahn donates award winnings to found a First Translation Prize |magazine=The Bookseller |first=Katherine |last=Cowdrey |date=21 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205223047/https://www.thebookseller.com/news/hahn-donates-idla-prize-pot-fund-ta-first-translation-prize-573991 |archive-date=5 December 2020 |url-status=live}}

Hahn was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to literature.{{London Gazette|issue=63135|supp=y|page=B12|date=10 October 2020}}

He won the 2023 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature.{{cite web|url=https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2023-04/daniel-hahn-to-receive-2023-ottaway-award/?src=mailchimp&mc_cid=93478ca223&mc_eid=7c3a618d71|title=Daniel Hahn to Receive 2023 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature|website=Words Without Borders|date=11 April 2023|access-date= 11 April 2023}}

Three of Hahn's literary translations have been longlisted for the International Booker Prize, with his Portuguese to English translation of José Eduardo Agualusa's A General Theory of Oblivion making the shortlist in 2016.{{cite web|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/a-general-theory-of-oblivion|title=A General Theory of Oblivion: Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2016|access-date=2 June 2025}} In 2022, Hahn's Portuguese to English translation of Paulo Scott's Phenotypes was longlisted for the Prize.{{cite web|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/phenotypes|title=Phenotypes: Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022|access-date=2 June 2025}} And in 2024, Rodrigo Blanco Calderón's Simpatía, which Hahn co-translated from Spanish into English with Noel Hernández González, was longlisted for the International Booker Prize.{{cite web|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/simpatia|title=Simpatía: Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024|access-date=2 June 2025}}

He is currently working on a book about translations of Shakespeare around the world for Canongate Press.{{cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/canongate-nabs-hahns-book-on-language-and-the-unlikely-art-of-translating-shakespeare|title=

Canongate nabs Hahn’s book on language and the 'unlikely art of translating Shakespeare'|access-date=2 June 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018937484/daniel-hahn-on-interpreting-literary-works|title=Daniel Hahn on interpreting literary works|access-date=2 June 2025}}