Violet Law

Journalist-cum-translator

Chicago & Hong Kong

While growing up bilingually in Hong Kong, Violet Law constantly wrapped her mind, and tongue, around translation questions. Back then, it was a pastime borne out of intellectual curiosity. But after nearly half a lifetime (thus far) in the United States and more than a decade in journalism there, Violet has turned her childhood hobby into livelihood.

Violet graduated from the University of Chicago (with bona fides in liberal arts but an ostensible major in economics) and earned a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She specializes in translating Chinese nonfiction into English. She reads both classical and simplified Chinese.

Works by Violet Law

Voices from Tibet[听说西藏] by Woeser & Wang Lixiong (Forthcoming in Summer 2013 by Hong Kong University Press)

Enriching Lives [厚生利群]: Insurance in Hong Kong, 1841-2010 (Published in December 2010 by Hong Kong University Press)

The Petitioner [上访者]: Living Fossil under Chinese Rule by Law, by Du Bin, Beijing-based photographer for The New York Times. Published in The South China Morning Post magazine, September 2009 (excerpts) [First prize for features, 14th Annual Human Rights Press Awards]

Memoirs of Dr. Gao Yaojie [高洁的灵魂] (China's most prominent AIDS crusader now in exile), published in The South China Morning Post magazine, January 2008 (excerpts)