After studies in Oxford and Oslo, a German course in Berlin (1932) and a short period as a teacher in Hamar, Lotte became a passionate and prolific translator of non-fiction and fiction in 1937. Her œuvre consists of major historical, philosophical and biographical works, of british bestselling thrillers and German classics of the past and present.

In 1970 she was awarded the Bastian Prize for her translation of Siegfried Lenz's German Lesson, and in 1976 she received the Norwegian Arts Council's Translator's Prize. The central source for her life and work is her daughter Mari Holmboe Ruge's book Fra Bispehaugen til Hønskollen. Lotte and Haakon Holmboe: Liv og arbeid (2001). Excerpts from letters and diary entries provide valuable insight into how Lotte Holmboe combined the roles of mother of three, resistance wife and professional translator.

Elisabeth Beanca Halvorsen