New Dutch Books in English
The Vondel Prize for the best translation of a notable book from Dutch or Flemish into English is awarded every two years. The 2022 shortlist has just been announced, with a trio of Davids taking on a Laura and a Jane. The winner will be revealed in February.
The shortlist
· David Colmer for Will by Jeroen Olyslaegers (Pushkin Press)
· David Doherty for Summer Brother by Jaap Robben (World Editions)
· David McKay for Adrift in the Middle Kingdom by J. Slauerhoff (Handheld Press)
· Jane Hedley-Prole for The Republic by Joost de Vries (Other Press)
· Laura Watkinson for Lampie by Annet Schaap (Pushkin Children’s)
The judges said of this year’s shortlist:
The books on the shortlist cover time periods spanning more than a century and take the reader to vastly different worlds, whether it be that of a ship’s doctor in the 1920s, a present-day academic, a Flemish policeman during the second world war, a thirteen-year-old boy or a lighthouse keeper’s daughter. The five highly-skilled translators display an ear for dialogue, a keen understanding of characterization, and an ability to create a distinctive narrative voice.
Meanwhile, the Translators Aloud channel on Youtube has a growing database of translators reading from their work. Check out the Dutch playlist here. And our friends at the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative dedicated the entire month of September to Dutch children’s literature. You can find links to all their posts here.
Our new and forthcoming titles include Radna Fabias’s poetry collection Habitus (trans. David Colmer) which took the Netherlands by storm, Bart van Loo’s bestselling historical epic The Burgundians (trans. Nancy Forest-Flier), the second volume of Geert Mak’s ambitious survey of Europe (trans. Liz Waters), as well as Manon Uphoff’s disturbingly brilliant novel Falling is Like Flying (trans. Sam Garrett).
Many publishers are now selling directly to customers from their websites so please consider ordering your copies there and check out what else they have to offer. Or take a look at bookshop.org (US) or uk.bookshop.org (UK) and order from your local independent.
Books published between May and December 2021.
Fiction
Manon Uphoff, Falling is Like Flying, trans. Sam Garrett, Pushkin Press
Willem Frederik Hermans, A Guardian Angel Recalls, trans. David Colmer, Archipelago US/Pushkin UK
Hendrik Groen, Two Old Men and a Baby, trans. Hester Velmans, Grand Central Publishing
Walter Lucius, A Sea of Flames (Heartland Trilogy, 3), trans. Laura Vroomen, Lorraine Miller, Michael Joseph
Nonfiction
Bart van Loo, The Burgundians: A Vanished Empire, A History of 1111 Years and One Day, trans. Nancy Forest-Flier, Head of Zeus
Frank Westerman, We, Hominids, trans. Sam Garrett, Black Inc
Geert Mak, The Dream of Europe, trans. Liz Waters, Harvill Secker
Huub Modderkolk, There’s a War Going On but No One Can See It, trans. Elizabeth Manton, Bloomsbury
Cees Nooteboom, 533: A Book of Days, trans. Laura Watkinson, MacLehose Press
Mariska van Sprundel, Running Smart, trans. Danny Guinan, MIT Press
Luuk van Middelaar, Pandemonium: Saving Europe, trans. Liz Waters, Agenda Publishing
Hans Blom, Reappraising the History of the Jews in the Netherlands, trans. David McKay, Littman Library
Children’s and YA
Anna Woltz, Talking to Alaska, trans. Laura Watkinson, Rock the Boat
Mathilda Masters, 321 Things You Seriously Need to Know, ill. Louize Perdieus, trans. Brent Annable, Thames & Hudson
Maranke Rinck, Popcorn Bob 2: the Popcorn Spy, ill. Martijn van der Linden, trans. Nancy Forest-Flier, Levine Querido
Toon Tellegen, No One is Angry Today, trans. David Colmer, Gecko
Poetry
Radna Fabias, Habitus, trans. David Colmer, Deep Vellum/Phoneme
Erik Lindner, Words Are The Worst, Selected Poems, trans. Francis R Jones, Signal Editions
Cees Nooteboom, Leaving, trans. David Colmer, Seagull
Grand Larcenies: Translations and Imitations of Ten Dutch Poets, ed. and trans. P.C. Evans, Carcanet
Rinkeldekinkel: An Anthology of Dutch Poetry, ed. Rob Schouten, Milkweed Editions
