10 Books from Holland Frankfurt Book Fair Issue

ederlands N letterenfonds dutch foundation for literature

Autumn 2015 2 Books from Holland

Frequently Asked Questions

10 Books from Holland? Who decides the contents? Do you subsidise production costs? Our editors. We want to showcase the best contemporary This is possible in the case of editions of poetry, illustrated fiction from the Netherlands for our audience of literary publish- children’s books or graphic novels. For regular fiction and ers. In addition, there is always one classic, one graphic novel non-fiction, we support translation costs only. and one thriller. Most titles have been published recently and have enjoyed good sales, excellent reviews and one or more We would like to invite a Dutch author for a promotional visit. literary awards or nominations. Though sometimes one of these If you organise a good programme and offer the author factors is enough. Equally important is the question: ‘Does it ­accommodation, we can cover the travel costs. travel?’ Our advisors talk to publishers from all over the world and while it is impossible to say with certainty which novels will I’ve heard so much about the Amsterdam Fellowship. travel where, we have the expertise to make an educated guess. Every September, we organise a fellowship (4 days) for publish- ers and editors. We do not have an application procedure, but At book fairs, do you talk about these books exclusively? you can always send us an e-mail stating your interest. While we like to discuss our catalogue, there are always other titles: books that have just appeared or are about to come out or Individual Publisher’s Visits books that just missed our selection. Our advisors read as much We host 8 to 10 publishers and editors per year on an individual fiction as they can. basis. Usually, these are great if you already have one or more Dutch authors on your list and would like to see them, combined Do you work together with Dutch publishers and agents? with a schedule of meetings. We keep each other informed about interest in titles and rights sales. When we commission a sample translation, we usually What’s Schwob? share the costs. However, we always make our own decisions, Schwob.nl is a European network for forgotten or undiscovered and remain completely independent. books, established and maintained by translators, publishers and editors, researchers, readers and critics. How many books by one author will you support? We can support one author with three books. If the author has Can I subscribe to Books from Holland? changed publishing houses, previous titles are not counted. Please leave your card at our stand, or send a message. All our past issues are available at www.letterenfonds.nl. Are all books in your brochure eligible for a grant? Yes they are, with a maximum subsidy of 100% of the translation Advisors Fiction costs for classics and 70% for contemporary prose, based on the actual fee paid by the publisher.

Are books that aren’t included in your brochure eligible? As long as it’s a good literary title, it probably is. We make our decisions based on three criteria: literary quality of the book, status of the publishing house and quality of the translator. You can always ask in advance if a book is eligible or not. Barbara den Ouden Victor Schiferli Eastern and Middle Europe, Scandinavia, German and Can you help us find a translator? Mediterranean countries, English-language countries. Russia. Graphic novels. [email protected] Lists of experienced translators are provided by e-mail. [email protected]

We want to work with somebody who is not on your list. Then we require a sample translation of 20 pages and the translator’s CV. If the translation is good, the translator will be added to our list. If the translation needs repair, we can make suggestions. If the translation is beyond repair, you are advised to hire somebody who is on our list.

How do we apply for a translation subsidy? Reintje Gianotten Tiziano Perez Germany. Brazil, China, Japan. We need contracts with the rights holders and the translator, [email protected] [email protected] plus the application form. You can submit digitally from our website: http://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/translation-subsidy. Thomas Möhlmann: Arabic countries, [email protected] Meetings are held six times a year, the dates are announced Alexandra Koch: Schwob, [email protected] on our website. 3 Books from Holland Connie Palmen You Said It

The tragic love story of Plath and Hughes told by the husband who was branded a monster

After Ted Hughes left her for another Hughes out of the shadow cast by his Publishing details woman, Sylvia Plath killed herself. She wife’s death, perhaps even to emancipate Jij zegt het (2015) 277 pp., 69,738 words became a martyr and a saint; he was him. The name Sylvia rarely appears in 50,000 copies sold branded a murderer and a monster. You Said It; Hughes as narrator consist- Hughes did little to dispel this version of ently refers to her as ‘my bride’. The Publisher events. In this novel, written as a dramatic emphasis of the book lies on his work, Prometheus monologue worthy of a poet laureate, his poetry, his love for his wife and his Ronit Palache, [email protected] Connie Palmen gives Hughes a voice to powerlessness to help her. www.pbo.nl tell his side of the story. The novel’s title echoes the words of Judas at the Last Supper. When Jesus tells Translated titles This is not Palmen’s first examination of his apostles that one of them will betray Please see the troubling relationship between the him and Judas protests ‘Surely, not I Lord?’ www.vertalingendatabase.nl public perception of celebrated figures and Jesus answers ‘You have said so.’ After the true story that lies beneath. Her sixth Plath’s death, many feminists cast Hughes novel, You Said It is based on fact and in the role of Judas, as a man who had results in a convincing portrait of a young callously betrayed and abandoned his wife, couple, their all-consuming love for one and many friends shunned him, blaming another, their struggles as poets, their him for her suicide. In a letter to Plath’s creative bond and their neuroses. mother, he wrote ‘I don’t want ever to be A vast amount has been written about forgiven’. Palmen succeeds in creating Plath, while far less has been published on empathy for both husband and wife. Hughes. Beyond literary circles he is often Many will feel inclined to take a milder, ‘You Said It is a novel you reduced to the role of ‘the husband’. He more forgiving view of Hughes after cannot put down until the maintained his self-imposed silence about reading her take on their story. final page has been read. Plath’s suicide until shortly before his Connie Palmen’s new novel, her first in […] it’s like staying up all death in 1998 with the publication of eight years, is a compelling, lyrical account night listening to the Birthday Letters. Palmen’s novel is set of love and betrayal. intimate confessions of a around that time and seeks to bring close friend and staggering back to your own wan existence, reeling from the intense emotional journey.’ – De Morgen

‘Connie Palmen’s great achievement in You Said It, a beautifully written book, is that the voice of Ted Hughes wins you over Connie Palmen (b. 1955) studied Dutch and philosophy. She shot to fame with her first novel from the word go. You De wetten (The Laws, 1991). Her two subse- forget that the voice is in quent novels De vriendschap (The Friendship, fact Palmen’s. That’s when 1995) and I.M. (1998) followed her debut onto you know the novelist has the bestsellers list. She went on to publish done her job. Sheer class.’ Geheel de uwe (Sincerely Yours, 2004), Lucifer (2007) and Logboek van een onbarmhartig jaar – Het Parool (Log Book of a Merciless Year, 2011). Palmen has also written several collections of essays, ‘You Said It is Palmen’s like Een kleine filosofie van de moord (A Short finest novel to date.’ Philosophy of Murder, 2004) and Het geluk van – NRC Handelsblad de eenzaamheid (The Joy of Loneliness, 2009). She was awarded the AKO Literature Prize for De vriendschap and her work has been trans- lated into twenty languages. Photo: Annaleen Louwes 4 Books from Holland P.F. Thomése The Underwater Swimmer

Masterly, moving triptych about a man haunted by loss

The central figure in P.F. Thomése’s profoundly sad yet rich in consolation. Publishing details seventh novel is a haunted man who lives The dying Tin encounters the ‘indestruct- De onderwaterzwemmer (2015) 253 pp., 62,326 words in the shadow of a boyhood trauma. At ible hope’ of his newfound grandson. Or 30,000 copies sold the age of fourteen he accompanies his was that hope within Tin all along, ‘had it father on a perilous night-time swim swum all those years, all those miles with Publisher across a river from the Nazi-occupied him, unheeded?’ Atlas Contact Netherlands into liberated territory. The The pièce de résistance is the central Hayo Deinum [email protected] father disappears without trace and the section, the description of the journey that www.atlascontact.nl son lives on, racked by guilt that goes on Tin and his wife undertake through an to shape his life. African landscape in search of the child they have sponsored through a charity. It Thomése’s account of the life of Martin begins as a hilarious account of an expedi- (‘Tin’) van Heel zooms in on three key tion by xenophobic Westerners through a episodes. It begins with the fatal river world they have no hope of understanding crossing in 1944 and Tin’s futile and but ends in heartbreak with Tin powerless anguished search for his missing father. to prevent his wife’s death. ‘With all his The narrative then jumps to 1974 and a soul he wanted to make something right. fateful trip to Africa, where Tin’s wife To set something straight. Return home succumbs to the brutal heat. The novel’s with a story that made sense. [...] He was final section moves forward to 2004 and never able to return home. Because he was Tin’s deathbed in a rundown Havana to blame. He was always to blame, even hospital. The thread running through Tin’s now.’ life is his inability to lay down the burden of responsibility for the tragedies he has suffered and his inability to move on. The Underwater Swimmer is in the form ‘The novel has all the of three novellas. The story of young Tin’s elements of a page-turner: wartime ordeal is tense and moving, while you never know who is the account of Tin on his deathbed is about to emerge from the undergrowth.’ – NRC Handelsblad

‘A tale that works its way under your skin.’ – de Volkskrant

‘The narrative is tightly woven, the composition By the time P.F. Thomése (b. 1958) won the finely wrought, the style AKO Literature Prize in 1991 for his novella immensely powerful [...] collection Zuidland (Southland, 1990), he had his greatest work to date’ already earned a reputation as a meticulous – Vrij Nederland stylist with a sophisticated sense of humour, and an impassioned advocate of the primacy of the imagination in literature. In the course of his Voted Book of the Month career he has developed an astounding range, by the book panel of the from the intensely personal Schaduwkind Netherlands’ most (Shadow Child, 2003) – his literary response influential talk show, to the death of his young daughter – and the De Wereld Draait Door. romantic tragedy De weldoener (A Girl of His Own, 2010) to the biting political satire of Vladiwostok! (2007) and the sleazy slapstick of J. Kessels: The Novel (2009). Photo: Annaleen Louwes 5 Books from Holland Guus Kuijer The Bible for Unbelievers

A gloriously imaginative retelling of the Book of Books by a master storyteller

Any attempt to bring the Bible to a fresh no other gods but you?’ God replies Publishing details set of readers is a bold undertaking. snippely: ‘I find that question rather De bijbel voor ongelovigen. Deel 4. Koning David en de splitsing van Guus Kuijer, one of Holland’s best-loved inappropriate.’ By bringing an irreverent het rijk. authors for children and adults, steps dose of realism to the inconceivable, 272 pp., 90,050 words effortlessly into the light with his own Kuijer playfully illustrates the bizarre extraordinary retelling, written for a nature of the Bible. Publisher modern-day readership of unbelievers. The fourth volume in the series turns to Athenaeum – Polak & Van Gennep Jolijn Spooren Three volumes have been published to King David, just as his power is beginning [email protected] date, with part four following in autumn to wane and his kingdom is coming under www.singeluitgeverijen.nl 2015. threat. It moves on to the reign of his promiscuous son Solomon: ‘God granted Rights sold Kuijer is not on a critical crusade. Rather, Solomon the gift of wisdom at which point Germany (Kunstmann, first two volumes) he is keen to bridge the cultural gulf Solomon said: “Thank you Lord God, USA (Seven Stories Press) between the modern reader and the I’ll help myself to around one thousand Middle East of the distant past, a world women.”’ It’s bound to end in tears. with perplexingly unfamiliar customs. A key question about a Bible for Bypassing the likes of Moses and Abra- Unbelievers is, how does God fare? Kuijer ham, he tells the story from the perspec- portrays Him as eccentric and capricious. tive of outsiders and underdogs – an When David conducts a census, God sends inspired choice that creates plenty of a plague upon the people of Israel, only to ‘Kuijer is a master room for emotion, doubt and disbelief. relent halfway: ‘God felt sorry! Under- storyteller and his Bible He has no qualms about skipping the stand? He had listened to seventy thou- sweeps you along from dull bits. His Bible reads as an absorbing sand men, women and children wailing, beginning to end. (…) He work of fiction, packed with enthralling watched them die horribly while loving has been quoted as saying scenes and lively dialogue – a unique each of them. That hurt.’ he needs one more book in achievement that earned him a well-de- God as fickle and fallible who brings order to round off his Bible served place on the shortlist for the AKO death and destruction on a nation and for Unbelievers series. I Literature Prize. then has second thoughts? Welcome to the hope with all my heart he One of the most striking and entertain- wonderful world of Guus Kuijer. ends up needing ten.’ ing features of Kuijer’s series is its pro- – NRC Handelsblad foundly human take on these astounding and improbable tales. When Adam asks ‘With his marvellous sense his maker ‘Are you really alone? Are there of humour, his lightness of touch, his erudition and his irascible nature, Kuijer has enriched the Book of Samuel […] giving it new Guus Kuijer (b. 1942) is one of the Netherlands’ depth and dispensing with most popular writers for both children and adults. Countless children have grown up with the cloak of piety.’ – NRC his Madelief and Polleke series. He has won Handelsblad numerous major awards and his work has been widely translated, with several of his books being ‘The three volumes of adapted for the stage. The Melbourne Theatre Guus Kuijer’s Bible for Company’s production of The Book of Every- thing has enjoyed enormous success in Australia Unbelievers represent and around the world. His work for adults includes a completely original Hoe een klein rotgodje God vermoordde (How literary undertaking A Small Little God Murdered God, 2006) and which knows no equal.’ – Hoe word ik gelukkig? (How To Be Happy, 2009). De Groene Amsterdammer In 2012 Kuijer won the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for his children’s writing and in 2014 he was shortlisted for the AKO Literature Prize for The Bible for Unbelievers. Photo: Jaco Klamer 6 Books from Holland Jamal Ouariachi A Hunger

A stylistic tour de force to move, dazzle, and court controversy

Jamal Ouariachi bases this masterly raised as part of Laszlo’s megalomaniac Publishing details novel of ideas on the life of Nobel Prize- Future Leaders of Europe initiative. The Een honger (2015) 588 pp., 190,100 words winner Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, aim was to give these children the best 3,000 copies sold a physician and medical researcher possible education so that they would convicted of child abuse. Besides explor- return to their homeland armed with the Rights ing the nature of love and examining the knowledge to make a difference to society. Querido wisdom and folly of development aid, Aurélie is understandably hesitant Jolijn Spooren [email protected] A Hunger delivers a fierce polemic when Alexander contacts her after all this www.singeluitgeverijen.nl against rigid sexual mores and is above time and asks her to write his biography, all an exhilarating tour de force. especially when it becomes clear that the book will feature an apologia for paedo- Aurélie is the loving and dedicated mother philia. She agrees to write the book that of a three-year-old daughter, a role she will ultimately seal her ex-lover’s fate. combines with a successful career in In A Hunger, Ouariachi once again television. Her life is turned upside down proves himself to be a gifted and ambitious when she receives a phone call out of the stylist, taking the reader on a journey that blue from an ex-lover: Alexander Laszlo, spans several continents, several decades formerly an iconic figure in the world of and a range of social issues but that also Dutch development aid and once better plunges deep into the inner lives of Aurélie known as ‘Holland’s answer to Bob and Alexander. He pulls out all the stops, ‘In both style and content, Geldof ’. juggling pastiche, literary parody and sly A Hunger is a highlight Ten years previously, the passionate nods to the likes of Joyce, Woolf, Nabokov of contemporary Dutch relationship between Aurélie, then a and Easton Ellis. Without doubt one of the literature. Here we have a young student, and the flamboyant most courageous and surprising novels in writer with something to Alexander came to an abrupt end when recent years. say and who knows how to Laszlo was convicted of sexually abusing say it beautifully.’ – Noord one of his Ethiopian foster children. The Hollands Dagblad boy had been brought to Amsterdam together with a dozen other children to be ‘Few writers immerse themselves so deeply in their characters as [Ouariachi] does. A Hunger is not only a catalogue of peerless sentences, but also a miracle of imagination and empathy.’ – De Standaard

‘You may well ask: do Jamal Ouariachi (b. 1978) studied psychology I actually want to read a and spent years working as an online therapist. defence of paedophilia? He made his literary debut in 2010 with the But when the result is novel De vernietiging van Prosper Morèl great literature, a reviewer (The Destruction of Prosper Morèl). Since then he has written controversial stories, articles who simply stands in and columns for a range of leading publications judgement should be including nrc.next, HP/De Tijd, de Volkskrant, viewed with definite Knack Focus and Vogue. His second novel distrust.’ – NRC Tenderness earned him nominations for the Handelsblad BNG Literature Prize and the Gouden Uil. He followed up this success with 25, one-third of a Dutch literary trilogy written in response to Fifty Shades of Grey. Photo: Arnout Hulskamp 7 Books from Holland Sander Kollaard Stage IV

A tender story of love, loss and natural beauty with an unexpected ending

Sarie and Barend, married for more than The story Sander Kollaard tells is pro- Publishing details forty years, are happily looking forward foundly sad without being either morose Stadium IV (2015) 158 pp., 44,252 words to taking a trip around Europe in a or heavy. Aside from a number of sobering 20,000 copies sold camper van. Their plans come crashing digressions on euthanasia, palliative care down when Sarie is unexpectedly and symptoms of the illness (‘To die of Publisher diagnosed with metastasised ‘stage IV’ cancer is to die of a hysterical profusion of Van Oorschot, Amsterdam cancer. Armed with painkillers, the life’), Stage IV is above all a story about www.vanoorschot.nl couple return to the Swedish island love and the ways in which a fatal illness Rights where their love began. can dramatically destabilise even an ideal Menno Hartman relationship. But it is also a novel about the [email protected] ‘“I want to go to Öland,” Sarie says. “I want natural world and its power to console, www. vanoorschot.nl to see all those places again and remember described by Kollaard with exquisite and Laura Susijn [email protected] how happy we were… I don’t want to spend breathtaking precision. any more time thinking about cancer and Although the couple’s journey only therapies and prognoses. If you really want takes them through a small part of Swe- to help, then take me with you and make den, Sarie identifies with the protagonist me happy like we were then, so that I can of Selma Lagerlöf ’s book The Wonderful die happy.”’ Adventures of Nils, who travels the length Barend struggles with his wife’s deci- and breadth of the country, a physical sion to let her illness take its course but journey that stands for a journey within. does everything in his power to give her Stage IV might similarly be described as the final journey she so badly wants. a road novel. Though limited to a single Together they enjoy the Swedish country- setting, it takes its characters and its side and the memories it conjures up for readers on a journey that is both heartfelt both of them, until Sarie’s tumour triggers and enriching. increasingly frequent epileptic fits and dangerously uninhibited behaviour. ‘Kollaard deftly keeps Ultimately Barend realises what he will sentimentality at bay, yet have to sacrifice to keep Sarie’s happiness makes the couple’s battle intact. to find a little happiness together intensely believable […] using his protagonists’ memories to great effect. He chooses his words impeccably, striking exactly the right balance between tender and pragmatic.’ – Tzum

‘Beautiful, restrained and moving.’ – Haarlems Dagblad Historian Sander Kollaard (b. 1961) made his literary debut at the age of fifty with Onmiddellijke terugkeer van uw geliefde (The Voted Book of the Month Immediate Return of Your Loved One, 2012), by the book panel of the an unconventional short-story collection in which Netherlands’ most a Pirandello-esque tale rubs shoulders with influential talk show, a thought-provoking reflection on the winning De Wereld Draait Door. goal of the 1988 European Championship final. Stage IV is Kollaard’s debut novel. He moved to Sweden in 2006, from where he writes for Dutch medical publishers. Photo: Susanna Erlandsson 8 Books from Holland Inge Schilperoord Tench

Acclaimed and powerful literary debut about a man who falls victim to his own desire

One sunny morning, the narrator events and consequences. But the sun Publishing details Jonathan is released from prison to beats relentless down on the sand dunes Muidhond (2015) 221 pp., 60,922 words return to his elderly mother in her sad and the fish begins to deteriorate, and 8,000 copies sold house by the North Sea. All we are told desire flares up within Jonathan, a desire about his crime is that he is spared from that he has been struggling so very hard to Publisher compulsory psychiatric treatment, resist, knowing that it is wrong. The novel Podium due to lack of evidence. However, he is moves inexorably towards its dramatic Merijn Hollestelle, [email protected] instructed by his psychologist to record denouement. www.uitgeverijpodium.nl his experiences and feelings. Tench is a novel that raises questions about society’s efforts to deal with those Rights The stakes are high in the emotional world whose sexual urges violate its norms and 2Seas Agency of this middle-aged man: he has an almost standards. Should they be treated as Marleen Seegers marleen.seegers@2seasagency. uncontrollable desire for young girls and is criminals and outcasts or should we find com drawn to nine-year-old Elke who lives next ways to help them? To prevent abuse, door. She too lives alone with her mother. surely we need to understand the nature of Rights sold She too seems lost and lonely, and is often the potential abuser? Inge Schilperoord France (Belfond) left to fend for herself. Despite their age has written an insightful and disturbing Turkey (Pinhan) difference, Jonathan befriends the girl account of one man’s struggle to rein in UK (Pushkin Press, World English) and together they take care of an ailing the uncontrollable, which stays with the fish he finds swimming in a pool among reader long after the final page. the dunes. A tender relationship begins to develop. Jonathan sees Elke as some-­ one he wants to love and protect, but he describes his feelings in unsettlingly adult terms. So long as the fish is healthy, Jonathan remains on an even keel. So long as he can order his inner life according to his ‘A debut as compelling as therapy workbook, he can keep himself it is daring. A portrait of under control and oversee the transition a good man with harmful from feelings and thoughts to behaviour, desires – far more chilling and infinitely more tragic than a portrait of a monster.’ – HP/De Tijd

‘Prose that demands the reader’s fullest attention. [...] a riveting book that will not let you look away.’ – NRC Handelsblad

‘A tour de force. This is a brilliant and essential Inge Schilperoord (b. 1973) works as a novel.’ – De Morgen forensic psychologist and has published articles in NRC Handelsblad, Psychologie Magazine ‘A dark and impressive and Crossing Border Magazine. The English- achievement.’ – language and French-language rights to her de Volkskrant debut novel Muidhond (Tench) were purchased this summer, as were the film rights. The novel has also been longlisted for the ECI Literature Prize. Photo: Keke Keukelaar 9 Books from Holland Dola de Jong The Field

Rediscovered classic: a timeless novel about the tribulations of a remarkable refugee family

Aart and Lies, a young Jewish couple, flee Slowly they drift apart: Luba becomes the Publishing details the Netherlands on the eve of the Second housekeeper – and perhaps more – to a En de akker is de wereld (2015) 272 pp., 76,000 words World War and settle near the Moroccan Dutch expat, while Maria is adopted by the 3,000 copies sold city of Tangier. With their young son and consul’s family, largely against her will. the six refugee children they have taken Aart is wrongfully arrested and, once Publisher under their wing on their journey south, released from prison, finds himself in an Cossee they set about making a new home for unspoken conflict Laurens Molegraaf [email protected] themselves, living in a caravan and trying with Hans over who is head of the family. www.cossee.com to farm an abandoned field. The subtle Amid these domestic dramas, the family and unsentimental narrative recounts comes to be overshadowed by an even Translated title the growing pains of the children, as they greater threat. And the Field is the World struggle to hold their own in the face of Dola de Jong fled to Tangier in 1940 to (Scribner, 1945) incredible challenges. escape the rising tide of anti-semitism in 500,000 copies sold her Dutch homeland. Her family stayed Rights sold This unlikely family of refugees consists behind and The Field is dedicated to Czech Republic (Pistorius & of Rainer, an eighteen-year-old German her parents and her brother who died in Olsanska) boy, two Polish sisters Maria and Luba, the Holocaust. She paints a convincing Sweden (Nilsson förlag) fourteen and seven, and Pierre from picture of Tangier, then a melting pot of France and Berthe from Belgium, both cultures teeming with spies, crooks and only five. All the orphaned children are indifferent officials, where refugees fall Jewish, except for sixteen-year-old Hans prey to petty power games and opportun- who had to flee Germany because of his istic adventurers. The novel is a bitter- father’s involvement in the Resistance. sweet, all too relevant story of refugees Aart’s and Lies’ ideals prove no match in search of a better future. for the troubles they face: Lies falls pregnant, Pierre’s leg has to be amputated, the children are infested with lice and nothing grows on their field. The local consul regularly denies the surrogate family the financial support to which they Dola de Jong was born in the Netherlands in are entitled. 1911 but fled the country in 1940 and ended up in the United States. She was a novelist and a writer of children’s books, short stories and columns. Her literary debut Dans om het hart (Dance for the Heart, 1939) drew on her early career as a dancer. In 1945, And the Field is the World was published in New York to widespread acclaim and was edited by Maxwell Perkins, who had worked with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest ‘Of all the books to Hemingway. Two years later, the novel was published in Dutch as En de akker is de wereld come out of World War and was awarded the City of Amsterdam’s II, none reveal with such Literature Prize. Her novel De thuiswacht (The terrifying clarity the Tree and the Vine), a wartime story of the love nature of demoralization. between two women, was published in the Written with a realism Netherlands in 1954. She won the Edgar Allan Poe Award in the US for her English-language that suggests Flaubert, mystery novel The Whirligig of Time (1964), The Field is tender as well which she translated into Dutch as De draaitol as well terrible. A beautiful van de tijd (1965). Dola de Jong read Dutch job of writing’. – Associated literature for New York publishers and her Press recommendations led to the US publication of Anne Frank, Hugo Claus, Jan Cremer, Jef Geeraerts and Jan Wolkers among others. She died in California in 2003. 10 Books from Holland Maria Dermoût The Ten Thousand Things

A classic novel that has inspired readers across the world

A consummate stylist, Maria Dermoût Even in her grief, Felicia continues to Publishing details is renowned for leaving her readers with believe in her grandmother’s simple De tienduizend dingen (1955) 256 pp., 98,000 words final sentences that resonate with hope wisdom: see the beauty, see the ten and consolation. She invests her charac- thousand things around you. Rights ters with strength and self-awareness, Dermoût interweaves the various Querido in the full knowledge that while life can elements of her subtle novel to over- Jolijn Spooren be unjust it is still worth living, and she whelming effect: there is something [email protected] www.singeluitgeverijen.nl writes in prose so sensual and vivid that intrinsically Asian about her mesmeric you can almost inhabit the world she style and powerful use of repetition. Translated titles describes. Events are told and retold from differing De tienduizend dingen. Translated perspectives, since that is how human into English, French, German, When Felicia is sent away to be educated beings learn about themselves and the Danish, Arabic, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, Nahasa, Icelandic and in the Netherlands as a young girl, her world. Chinese. grandmother gives her a bracelet, ‘This At the end of the novel, Felicia sits alone Nog pas gisteren. Translated into is for you. Make sure you come back with on her veranda. She does this one day each English and German. it.’ Felicia does exactly that. She returns year, to meet her departed loved ones, to with her son and without a husband to talk with them and to try to come to terms English translation available the remote island in the Dutch East Indies with the brutal death of her son. Her where her grandmother still lives. There servants call her inside as evening falls. ‘Mrs. Dermout, in the Felicia finds herself wedded to an uncanny ‘Then the lady of the Small Garden whose manner of Thoreau and the and dangerous world, full of mystery and name was Felicia stood up from her chair early Hemingway, is an violence, where objects tell tales, the dead obediently and without looking around at extraordinary sensualist. come and go, and the past is as potent as the inner bay in the moonlight – it would But her approach is not the the future. remain there, always – she went with them, muzzy, semi-poetic one in Felicia’s son falls in love with a woman under the trees and indoors, to drink her which the writer who already has a child and he joins the cup of coffee and try again to go on living.’ damagingly affixes his own army, only to have his life cruelly cut short. imagination to what he sees. Instead, her instinct for beauty results, again and again, in passages of a startling, unadorned, three-dimensional clarity; often one can almost touch what she describes.’ – The New Yorker

‘Each of Dermoût’s sentences came at me like a soft knowing dagger, Maria Dermoût (1888-1962) was born on depicting a far-off land that a sugar plantation on Java in the Dutch East felt to me like the blood of Indies (present-day Indonesia). Her first novel, all the places I used to love.’ the sensual coming-of-age drama Days Before – From Cheryl Strayed, Yesterday was published in 1951 and subse- quently translated into several languages. Wild The Ten Thousand Things came out in 1955 and found a readership in over ten languages. ‘An offbeat narrative Dermoût’s modest but exceptional and enduring that has the timeless tone oeuvre continues to inspire. In her 2012 auto- of legend.’ – Time biographical bestseller Wild, Cheryl Strayed describes how Dermoût’s words kept her going on her rite-of-passage hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. Photo: Larry Burrows 11 Books from Holland Mark Hendriks Tibet: The Healing of Mhusha the Butcher’s Daughter

Graphic novel charts an unsettling odyssey through a Tibetan dystopia Publishing details Tibet: De genezing van Mhusha de slagersdochter (2015) Hendriks’ black-and-white illustrations As rulers, they demonstrate an exasperat- 400 pp. are stunning in their simplicity and his ing inability to act, their sole solution to Black-and-white illustrations religious critique is razor-sharp. In Tibet, social problems being to chant Om Mani he delivers a heady mix of East Asian Padme Hum another several hundred Rights ink-wash art and the satirical bite of times. Hendriks also weaves the sexism Scratch Books Irene Kunst, Monty Python’s Life of Brian. among Tibetan Buddhists into his narra- [email protected] tive, some of whom even deny the human- www.scratchbooks.nl Hendriks’ novel is a dystopian vision of an ity of women. Yet at the same time the independent Tibet torn apart by religious book is an unashamed ode to the un- strife. The new nation amounts to little spoiled natural landscape of Tibet, featur- more than a collection of fiefdoms where ing exquisite illustrations of its endless rival Buddhist sects battle for power. mountain ranges. Mhusha suffers from an ailment suppos- With Tibet: The Healing of Mhusha edly brought on by demonic possession. the Butcher’s Daughter, newly founded The local nobleman grants her permission publisher Scratch Books presents an to travel to the monastery in Dbu Li to visit impressively documented, hard-hitting yet a lama with special healing powers. humorous fable that calls the West to Accompanied by her neighbour Lhaso, account for its romanticised view of Tibet. Mhusha goes in search of the monastery on what turns out to be an epic journey Prize-winning graphic artist Mark Hen- through a fragmented land. driks is fascinated by Asia, the setting for Tibet wrong-foots the reader at every most of his work. In 1997 he graduated turn, thanks to Hendriks’ refusal to settle from Groningen’s Minerva Art Academy, for simplification. He pokes fun at the one year after winning the VSB Award for ‘Mark Hendriks’ style, West’s predilection for the esoteric side of upcoming talent. He went on to receive which reveals the influence Buddhism and launches a satirical attack a Slovenian Handyburger Award in 1998 of Pratt, Hubinon and on the lust for power among the Buddhist and is a three-time winner of the Strip­ Micheluzzi, is strongly elite, exposing a society based on subjuga- schap Prize. To date, his work has been visual: sparing with text tion. The monks in Tibet are a far cry from translated into French, Japanese, Italian, and rich in atmosphere, the peace-loving, ever-smiling Dalai Lama. Slovenian and Finnish. evoked in a fine and sensitive line.’ – Jury report for the VSB Upcoming Talent Award.

‘A staggering combination of craftsmanship, vibrant drawing, layered humour, surprising elements and strange plot twists. – De Boekenkrant

‘Tibet is a glorious book, a tremendous satire on the esoteric and a warning against false prophets.’ – Stripinfo

Photo: Gert Jan Pos 12 Books from Holland Leon de Winter Geronimo

Fast-paced political thriller in the tradition of Tom Clancy and Frederic Forsyth

What if Osama Bin Laden were still alive Apana under his care but during a Taliban Publishing details and a lookalike had been gunned down in attack on the base, she is abducted. Geronimo (2015) 362 pp., 93,337 words his place? This is the geopolitical game- Desperate not to lose another daughter, 42,000 copies sold changer that ignites Leon de Winter’s Tom vows to do whatever it takes to get novel Geronimo. her back. Publisher Mutilated by her Taliban abductors, De Bezige Bij Abbottabad, Pakistan, 2011. ‘Usama’ Bin Apana is cast out on to the streets of Marijke Nagtegaal [email protected] Laden, the world’s most feared terrorist, Abbottabad, where Jabbar, an enterprising Uta Matten has the fate of the President of the United young Pakistani, does his best to look out [email protected] States in his hands. The information he for her. Jabbar’s enquiring mind, will later www.debezigebij.nl has obtained will enable him to engineer put him in jeopardy. the fall of the US government. One night, unable to sleep, Usama Rights sold Germany (Diogenes) Tom Johnson, a former CIA agent jumps on a beaten-up motorbike and whose marriage imploded after the death heads through the tunnel under his hiding Translated titles of his young daughter, is indirectly place to buy a pack of cigarettes. Out on Please see involved in a rogue mission to bring Bin the street he encounters a crippled beggar www.vertalingendatabase.nl Laden to justice: this plan, and that of his girl who seems to recognise him. Deter- fellow servicemen, is not to follow implied mined not to risk discovery, he takes the U.S. instructions to ‘capture or kill’ but to girl back to his hiding place. It is Apana. take him alive. Through her, Usama, Tom and Jabbar are At the base where he is stationed, Tom now linked. had struck up a friendship with an Afghan Geronimo takes its title from the code interpreter and awakened a passion name for the operation to eliminate Bin for music in his friend’s young daughter Laden. It is a superb and compelling politi- Apana by introducing her to Bach’s cal thriller that packs a punch on many Goldberg Variations. When the interpreter levels. is killed during a mission, Tom takes

‘A novel with the break- neck pace of a Tom Clancy thriller.’ – Elsevier

‘De Winter stokes the imagination till the pages catch fire. It’s a drive that makes him unique.’ – de Volkskrant

‘Unrelenting suspense and conspiracy theories that hit home thanks to knowing Leon de Winter (b. 1954) is a bestselling author use of detail, a testament both in the Netherlands and abroad, particularly in Germany. Hoffman’s Hunger was published to the author’s dogged in 1990, followed by many more novels. The approach to documentation novel The Hollywood Sign (1997) was made into and his thirst for a film with Rod Steiger, Burt Reynolds and Tom authenticity.’ – VN Detective Berenger. Major bestsellers God’s Gym (2002), en Thrillergids The Right of Return (2008) and VSV (2012) followed. De Winter is also a high-profile political commentator, known for his critical stance towards Islam. Photo: Marco Okhuizen 13 Books from Holland Successful Titles Making a Splash on the International Literary Market

Adventures of a feisty old codger in Bittersweet accounts of dreaming a care home young men and their ruin

Hendrik Groen Nescio Attempts to Make Something Amsterdam Stories of Life (De uitvreter; Titaantjes; Dichtertje) (Pogingen iets van het leven te maken. 250,000 copies sold Het geheime dagboek van Hendrik 1 Rights: Jolijn Spooren, Groen, 83 ⁄4 jaar) 40,000 copies sold [email protected] Rights sold: France (Gallimard), Rights: Marleen Seegers, Germany (Amman, Suhrkamp), [email protected] Hungary (Gondolat), Indonesia Rights sold: Brazil (Planeta), (Penerbit Djambatan), Italy Catalonia (Amsterdam), China (Iperborea), Poland (P.I.W.), Slovakia (Thinkingdom), Finland (Gummerus), (Európa), Spain (Elba), Sweden France (Presses de la Cité), Germany (Malexis), Turkey (Odem Yayınları), US (Piper), Greece (Patakis), Hungary (New York Review of Books Classics) (Libri Kiado), Iceland (Bjartur), Italy (Longanesi), Korea (Moonhak Soochup), Lithuania (Alma Littera), ‘Hendrik Groen is king. My Norway (Vigmostad & Bjørke), Poland mother (78) suffers from (Albatros), Portugal (Jacaranda), dementia. Doesn’t read a Serbia (Dereta), Slovenia (Mladinska newspaper or magazine ‘Nescio is the greatest Dutch writer’. Knjiga), Spain (Roca), Sweden anymore, only old photo – Tommy Wieringa (Wahlström & Widstrand), Turkey albums can grab her (Can), UK & Commonwealth (Michael attention for longer than 5 ‘Makes you never want to stop Joseph/Penguin Randomhouse UK). min. Hendrik Groen made reading about the insanities, the her laugh out loud and she sadnesses, the courage and fragility was reading for a good half of the childhood that Nescio hour in his book.’ – Ray describes so brilliantly [...]’ – La Kluun, author of Love Life Repubblica

Prizewinning novel about the loss The history of a pharmaceutical of the author’s only son multinational in a thrilling novel about sex addiction and the abuse of power

A.F.Th. van der Heijden Saskia Goldschmidt Tonio The Hormone Factory 230,000 copies sold (De hormoonfabriek) 10,000 copies sold Rights: Marijke Nagtegaal, Film rights sold to FilmTalents, [email protected], Jacques Audiard (Un Prophète, Uta Matten, Dheepan) will direct the movie. [email protected] Rights sold: China (Flower City), Rights: Laurens Molegraaf, Germany (Suhrkamp), Hungary [email protected] (Gondolat), World English (Scribe) Rights sold: France (Gallimard), Germany (DTV), South-Africa (Protea),Turkey (Bence Kitap), UK ‘A monument to love and suffering: (Saraband), US (Other Press) the author A.F.Th. van der Heijden has written a requiem for his son. Tonio is one of the most powerful, ‘The Hormone Factory is a dark, compelling expressions of the fascinating exploration of man’s human spirit in the face of its nature set during an era of exciting opposite, death and the void’. scientific discovery and geopolitical – Die Welt turmoil.’ – The Lancet 14 Books from Holland

Recent Translations This is a selection of recently published translations from the Dutch. For more information please go to our online database of translations www.vertalingendatabase.nl.

Rodaan Al Galidi A. Alberts Gerbrand Bakker The Autist and the Carrier-Pigeon The Islands June

Autistas ir pasˇto balandis Îles June Translated into Lithuanian by Birute· Avizˇiniene· Translated into French by Kim Andringa Translated into English by David Colmer for Gelme· s Publishing, 2015. for Piranha, 2015. for Harvill Secker, 2015

Jan Brokken A.F. Th. van der Heijden Herman Koch The Revenge Tonio Dear Mr M.

Die Vergeltung Tonio Sehr geehrter Herr M. Translated into German by Helga van Translated into English by Jonathan Reeder Translated into German by Christiane Beuningen for Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2015. for Scribe, 2015. Kuby and Herbert Post for Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2015. 15 Books from Holland

Ernest van der Kwast Cees Nooteboom Gustaaf Peek Giovanna’s Navel A Song of Truth and Semblance Dover

Fünf Viertelstunden bis zum Meer En sång om sken och vara Dover Translated into German by Andreas Ecke Translated into Swedish by Per Holmer Translated into Indonesian by Widjajanti for Marebuch, 2015. for Modernista, 2015. Dharmowijono for Gramedia, 2015.

Ida Simons Tommy Wieringa Jan Wolkers A Foolish Virgin A Beautiful Young Woman Turkish Delight

Una vergine sciocca Szép, fiatal feleségem [Loukoúmia] Translated into Italian by Laura Pignatti Translated into Hungarian by Szabolcs Translated into Greek by Ynn van Dijck-Baltas for Rizzoli, 2015. Wekerle for Libri, 2015. for Potamos, 2015. Books from Holland

Connie Palmen Inge Schilperoord You Said It Tench

P.F. Thomése Dola de Jong The Underwater Swimmer The Field

Guus Kuijer Maria Dermoût The Bible for Unbelievers The Ten Thousand Things

Jamal Ouariachi Mark Hendriks A Hunger Tibet

Sander Kollaard Leon de Winter Stage IV Geronimo

Books from Holland is distributed to international editors and publishers. Please contact us if you would like to be included on our mailing list.

Editors Dick Broer, Barbara den Ouden, Tiziano Perez, Victor Schiferli, Pieter Steinz

Contributions Dick Broer, Reintje Gianotten, Marlies Hoff, Mara Joustra, Barbara den Ouden, Tiziano Perez, Victor Schiferli, Pieter Steinz

Translation David Doherty

Cover Image ederlands Postbus /PO Box 16588 Victor Schiferli 1001 RB Amsterdam www.flickr.com/victorschiferli N letterenfonds t +31 (0)20 520 73 00 f +31 (0)20 520 73 99 dutch foundation [email protected] Printing for literature www.letterenfonds.nl Platform P visiting address Nieuwe Prinsengracht 89 Design 1018 VR Amsterdam Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht