An Rutgers van der Loeff was active as a translator from 1932 to 1987. Her body of work comprises some sixty titles and is wide-ranging. In addition to Scandinavian books, she also translated English, American, German and French literature for both young people and adults. One well-known author she translated was Sigrid Undset, the Norwegian novelist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928. Other authors translated by Rutgers van der Loeff were well-known in their day but are now virtually forgotten, e.g. the Swedish author Laura Fitinghoff. Her realistic and innovative children’s novel Barnen från Frosmofjället from 1907 (Dutch title: De kinderen van de groote fjeld) was published in ten different languages, but has fallen into obscurity outside Sweden.
Rutgers van der Loeff became best known for her original work: she received several awards for her children’s literature. Some of her children’s books remain popular and have been republished this century.