Born and educated in Reykjavík, Björg Árnadóttir graduated from the Icelandic National Theatre School; she has lived in England since 1971, working as actor, writer, director, broadcaster and specialist teacher of dyslexic children. Her British husband Andrew Cauthery, an Oxford law graduate and musician, is fluent in Icelandic, which he learnt while working with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra; he later became principal oboe at English National Opera. Björg and Andrew have worked together for many years, translating both English into Icelandic and Icelandic into English, working on a wide variety of manuscripts including books on Icelandic nature and technical topics, film and TV subtitling, as well as literature. An advantage of their working as a couple is that, whichever the direction of translation, the final product is always read over by the relevant ‘mother tongue’ speaker.