This is a twice-yearly selection of new Dutch-language literature in English translation.
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Books are listed by genre, with our choice of key titles at the top and the rest of our selection in alphabetical order by author. We have included a link to the publisher’s Dutch and Belgian distributor if we have it.
Dutch literature from the twenty-first and nineteenth centuries has been attracting attention this year with the longlisting of Tommy Wieringa’s The Death of Murat Idrissi for the prestigious Man Booker International Prize 2019 and the publication in New York of a new translation of Multatuli’s anti-colonial classic, Max Havelaar, now with an introduction by the Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Meanwhile the interest in modern classics continues with the publication of Gerard Reve’s Childhood: Two Novellas and Jan Terlouw’s Winter in Wartime, both by Pushkin in London.
Fiction
Multatuli, Max Havelaar: Or, the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company. Translated by David McKay, Ina Rilke. New York Review of Books, 2019 (NYRB Classics). PB.
Gerard Reve. Childhood:Two Novellas. Translated by Sam Garrett. Pushkin Press, 2018. Orders: michael@geoghegan.me.uk
Joost de Vries. The Republic. Translated by Jane Hedley-Prole. New York: Other Press 2019. PB.
Tommy Wieringa. The Death of Murat Idrissi. Translated by Sam Garrett. Scribe, 2019. HB. Orders: orders@gbs.tbs-ltd.co.uk
Hubert Lampo. The Coming of Joachim Stiller. Translated by Paul Vincent. Valancourt Books, 2019. PB.
Sarah Meuleman. Find Me Gone. Translated by David Doherty. HarperPerennial, 2018. PB.
Karel van de Woestijne. The Dying Peasant. Translated by Paul Vincent. Snuggly Books, 2018. PB.
Anthologies
Amsterdam Noir. Various authors and translators. Akashic Books, 2018.
Nonfiction
Luuk van Middelaar. Alarums & Excursions: Improvising Politics on the European Stage. Translated by Liz Waters. Agenda Publishing, 2019. HB.
Olivier van Beemen. Heineken in Africa: A Multinational Unleashed. Translated by Bram Posthumus. Hurst & Co., 2019. HB.
Martijn van Calmthout. Sam Goudsmit and the Hunt for Hitler’s Atom Bomb. Translated by Michiel Horn. Prometheus Books, 2018. HB.
Henkjan Honing. The Evolving Animal Orchestra: In Search of What Makes us Musical. Translated by Sherry Macdonald. The MIT Press, 2019. HB.
Anton van der Lem. Revolt in the Netherlands: The Eighty Years War, 1568-1648. Translated by Andy Brown. Reaktion Books, 2018. HB.
Stefan van der Stigchel. How Attention Works: Finding your Way in a World Full of Distraction. Translated by Danny Guinan. The MIT Press, 2019. HB.
Children and Young Adults
Jan Terlouw. Winter in Wartime. Translated by Laura Watkinson. Pushkin Press, 2018. HB. Orders: michael@geoghegan.me.uk
Marc ter Horst. Hey There, Earth Dweller! Translated by Laura Watkinson. Simon & Schuster, 2019. HB.
Peter Goes. Rivers: A Visual History from River to Sea. Translated by Bill Nagelkerke. Gecko Press, 2018. HB. Orders: www.bouncemarketing.co.uk
Poetry
Lieke Marsman. The Following Scan Will Last Five Minutes. Translated by Sophie Collins. Liverpool University Press, 2019.
Hagar Peeters. City of Sandcastles: Selected Poems. Translated by Judith Wilkinson. Shoestring Press, 2018. PB.
Leonard Nolens. An English Anthology. Translated by Paul Vincent. Carcanet, 2018 (Carcanet Poetry). PB.
