Ivarsson studied mathematics, physics, literature, Scandinavian languages and English at Uppsala University.
He retired in 1995 and moved to the coastal town of Simrishamn in southern Sweden where he continued to work as a freelance translator and subtitler.
Ivarsson has translated song lyrics, drama, television programmes and books from French, German and English into Swedish.
The first award was given to Ivarsson himself in Berlin at the biennial Language and the Media conference in 2010, for his lifetime pioneering contribution in the field of subtitling.
Later winners of the Jan Ivarsson Award include the subtitler Mary Carroll (2012) and the audiovisual translation studies scholar Jorge Díaz Cintas (2014).