Eva Wimmer

Eva Wimmer, the translator of Fire of Bengal into English, was born in Budapest in 1939. At the age of 17, during the Hungarian uprising of 1956, she escaped to London and earned her living as a shirtmaker. Meanwhile, she taught herself English as a means of re-education. It was not until 1974 that she received from Budapest a copy of Bengali Tüz (Fire of Bengal), which had previously been banned by the communist regime. She and her British husband, David Grant, resolved to translate it, and the work was eventually completed in 1985. Tragically, Eva Wimmer had died at the age of 46, a few months before the manuscript was ready. Like the author, Rózsa Hajnóczy, whom she so deeply revered, Eva was never to see her magnificent work brought to fruition.