John Irons (b. Harrogate, 1942) studied medieval and modern languages (German, Dutch and French) at Cambridge University, where he subsequently also did a doctorate in poetic imagery on the Dutch poet P.C. Boutens. He has translated professionally since the mid-1980s, mainly from Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Dutch. He translated 100 Dutch-Language Poems from the Medieval Period to the Present Day in co-production with Paul Vincent (Holland Park Press, 2015). With those translations he became a joint winner of the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize 2016.

John Irons's work featured in Stand Magazine comprises one translation.