Ian Gwin has received the Nadia Christensen Award for Excellence in Nordic Studies, 2025-6. The award is made by the Department of Scandinavian Studies annually at the Department's graduation ceremony. It is supported by an Endowment created in honor of Nadia Christensen's career as a translator and scholar of Nordic literature.
Ian Gwin is a doctoral researcher and translator, whose research and writing focuses on Estonian, Finnish, and Baltic literature. His dissertation, tentatively titled "The Secret of the Waves," focuses on the representation and reception of the mermaid in fairy tales after H. C. Andersen. A comparative study, it treats the crossing of folklore and literary decadence around the Baltic Sea in Finnish, Estonian, and Latvian national literatures. He will also be an American Scandinavian Foundation Fellow in 2025-6, working at the University of Helsinki with Professor Riikka Rossi.
Created through a gift by the Hognander Foundation of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the endowment honors Dr. Nadia Christensen for her substantial contributions promoting a greater understanding of and appreciation for Nordic cultures. Christensen received her Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Washington, and went on to become one of the foremost translators of Scandinavian literature. By establishing this award, the Hognander Foundation wishes to recognize and encourage students who, like Christensen, demonstrate excellence in Nordic studies.
Born in Minneapolis to parents of Norwegian and Danish descent, Christensen grew up in a home where the family’s Nordic heritage was deeply valued. She graduated magna cum laude from Augsburg College in 1959 and went on to earn graduate degrees in comparative literature at the University of Minnesota (MA, 1964) and the University of Washington (Ph.D., 1972) where she specialized in Scandinavian Languages and Literature. In the early years of her professional career, Dr. Christensen taught in Scandinavian departments at the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, and Pacific Lutheran University. Later she served as the director of publications for the American-Scandinavian Foundation in New York and Editor-in-Chief of Scandinavian Review. While there, she established the ASF Translation Prize, the first annual award in the United States for English translations of Nordic literature. Christensen has published approximately 400 translations of fiction, poetry and drama, of which 19 are book-length works, including two winners of the prestigious Pegasus Prize. In 1996, His Majesty King Harald V of Norway awarded her the Knight’s Cross, First Class, of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit in honor of her work as translator and dedication to furthering relations between the United States and Norway.