NEW DUTCH

Autumn 2020

Dutch Foundation for Literature FICTION This new edition of New Dutch Fiction once again presents a selection of books recently published in the Netherlands, books that have been included for their artistic and commercial success.

Who decides the contents? Do you work together with Dutch publishers and agents? We want to showcase the best fiction from the Netherlands. We keep each other informed Most titles have been published about interest in titles and recently and have done very well rights sales. When we com­ in terms of reviews, sales and mission a sample translation, awards or nominations. Equally we usually share the costs. important is the question: However, we always make our ‘Does it travel?’ Our specialists own decisions, and remain Barbara den Ouden, Claudia completely independent. di Palermo, Victor Schiferli, Tiziano Perez and Dick Broer try How many books by one and keep up with all the fiction author will you support? that appears and read as much as they can. As of this year, we We can support four books by have worked with an advisory one author. If the author has panel, who give us advice and changed foreign publishing input on new fiction. The final house, previous titles are not selection is made by the Dutch counted. Foundation for Literature. Are all books in your brochure At book fairs, do you eligible for a grant? talk about these books exclusively? Yes they are, with a maximum subsidy of 100% of the trans­ While we like to discuss our lation costs for classics and 70% catalogue, there are always for contemporary prose, based other titles: books that have on the actual fee paid by the just appeared or are about to publisher and with a maximum come out or books that just of 10,000 euros per translation missed our selection. Our advi­ grant. sors read as much fiction as they can. ANSWERS

AUTUMN 2020 1 Are books that aren’t included Do you subsidise production The Foundation’s specialists in your brochure eligible? costs? are present at prominent book fairs, including Frankfurt and As long as it’s a good literary This is possible in the case of London. They will be happy to title, it probably is. We make our editions of poetry, illustrated give you more information. decisions based on three criteria: children’s books or graphic literary quality of the book, status novels. For regular fiction and of the publishing house and non-fiction, we support transla­ quality of the translator. You can tion costs only. always ask in advance if a book is eligible or not. We would like to invite a Dutch author for a Can you help us find a promotional visit translator? If you organise a good pro­ Lists of experienced translators gramme and offer the author are provided by e-mail. If you accommodation, we can cover Barbara den Ouden Victor Schiferli want to work with somebody the travel costs. Because travel is [email protected] [email protected] who is not on our list, we require impossible for the moment due Fiction Classics a sample translation of 20 pages to Covid-19, you can apply for Graphic novels Poetry and the translator’s CV. If the a subsidy for the promotion of translation is good, the transla­ recent translations: tor will be added to our list. If the www.letterenfonds.nl/en/ translation needs repair, we can travel-costs make suggestions. If the trans­ lation is beyond repair, you are What’s Schwob? advised to hire somebody who is on our list. Schwob.nl is a European network for forgotten or undis­ How do we apply for a covered books, established translation subsidy? and maintained by translators, publishers and editors, research­ Claudia di Palermo Tiziano Perez We need contracts with the ers, readers and critics. [email protected] [email protected] rights holders and the translator, Fiction Managing director plus the application form. You Can I subscribe to Brazil can submit digitally from our New Dutch Fiction? China website: www.letterenfonds.nl/ Japan en/translation-subsidy. Please send us your contact Meetings are held six times a details and we’ll add you to our year, the dates are announced on list. All our past issues are avail­ our website. able at www.letterenfonds.nl.

SPECIALISTS Dick Broer [email protected] Literary thrillers

2 NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 3 Publishing details Gerda Blees Wij zijn licht (2020) 224 pages 59,600 words We Are Light Sample translation available

Rights Podium A brilliantly written, richly faceted Feline Streekstra [email protected]

novel about the profound human need Rights sold for belonging German rights (Paul Zsolnay)

Four members of a commune stop that the author did not want to provide an eating because from now on they want explanation for her characters’ unstable to live on light and air. The characters lives: ‘She wants to leave the mystery that in Gerda Blees’ novel each have their is Elisabeth intact, because according to own reasons for this extreme decision, her that’s what real life is like too – other which ends up costing the protagonist, people, especially the dead, are mysteries Elisabeth, her life. This magnificent that can’t be solved, no matter how frus­ story is loosely based on true events. trating that might be […]’ Gerda Blees is a compelling storyteller Each of the 25 chapters opens with the who writes with forensic precision – and words ‘We are...’ and is told by a different with great humor. We Are Light is gripping narrator: from Elisabeth’s parents and from the first page to the last. It’s a mov­ ‘The changing perspective allows Gerda Blees siblings, the neighbors and her sister’s ing novel, but at the same time there’s Blees to zoom in, zoom out, conceal (1985) made her debut in 2017 with lawyer to the night, the daily bread, the enough light and air. the short-story collection Aan and reveal. It’s a game, loaded with doodgaan dachten we niet (We Didn’t scent of an orange, dementia, doubt, and unexpected tension [...] You’re taken Think About Dying). Her first volume Elisabeth’s own body. Each narrator has by surprise time and again.’ of poetry, Dwaallichten (Wandering Lights), appeared the following year. a unique and distinct voice and makes NRC Handelsblad an essential contribution to the novel’s We Are Light is her first novel and complex tapestry. received unanimous rave reviews ‘Blees knows the art of taking the from the Dutch press. She lives in a For example, bit by bit we learn more reader by the hand past successive commune in Haarlem and is studying about Elisabeth’s sister Melodie, a failed stages of concern, outrage and Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Acade- cellist and the leader of the commune, as mie in Amsterdam. resignation. She subtly calls into well as two other members of the group, question the judgments we pass the cheerful Muriël and the troubled Petrus. on idealistic people like the novel’s Elisabeth’s body tells us how much it protagonists, and she allows us to yearned for attention and the touch of empathize with people we initially loving hands. We find out from the daily thought we’d never be able to relate to.’ bread that Muriel has a hard time resist­ Tzum ing its lure. The pen tells us that mem­ bers of the commune used him to write ‘An excellent novel [...] The stunning letters to parents whom they were no final chapter will leave readers longer speaking to. Even the story itself gasping for air.’ appears as one of the narrators. It tells us VPRO Gids

4 NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 5 Publishing details Jeroen Brouwers Cliënt E. Busken (2020) 224 pages 59,600 words Client E. Busken 45,000 copies sold Sample translation available

Publisher A spectacular novel on the decline of a Atlas Contact Hayo Deinum brilliant mind [email protected] Translated titles Please see en.vertalingendatabase.nl

At eighty years old, Brouwers once again ‘like pearls slipping off a string, one by manages to surprise readers with an one words are beginning to escape [him].’ extraordinary book, funny and wry at In this novel, which describes one day the same time, about the decline of a in the life of the snarling protagonist, we man with dementia who spends his are taken along on his endless, confused Jeroen Brouwers final days confined to a wheelchair in but often witty train of thought, sus­ (b. 1940) Jeroen Brouwers’ work the Villa Madeleine nursing home. pended between the present and the past, has strong autobiographical ele- with fragmented memories of both true ments, such as in the widely praised Client E. Busken – because patients no events and likely invented characters. Bezonken rood (Sunken Red, 1981). In his long career he has been honored longer exist in the Dutch healthcare sys­ There’s an encounter with a young new ‘Brouwers lets us ride the waves with many literary prizes, including tem – is furious. Furious with his mother, caregiver who fires up Busken’s imagina­ of his thoughts, and in so doing the F. Bordewijk Prize for De Zond- furious with the staff of Villa Madeleine, tion, one or two sanitary accidents, a few manages – and this merits special vloed (The Deluge, 1988) and the the nursing home to which he has been meddlesome fellow clients, a barbecue praise – to effortlessly captivate us. Multatuli Prize for Het verzonkene admitted against his will, furious with the at the end of the day and the constant (The Submerged, 1979). In 2007 The language is as rich and dense as Brouwers was awarded the presti- other residents. His angry outburst at the craving for a cigarette. Apart from that, poetry, and every bit as fluid.’ gious Dutch Literature Prize (which paramedics who brought him to this final nothing much happens – Busken is wait­ NRC Handelsblad is awarded once every three years) station in his life were the last words he ing for death. for his entire oeuvre. With Het hout (The Wood, 2014), the first Dutch spoke – ever since, he’s been silent. If this ends up being his final book, it ‘It’s this and this alone that we, Busken pretends to be deaf and dumb will be a phenomenal finish to Brouwers’ novel about child sexual abuse in the just like [Busken], are made up of: Catholic Church, Brouwers won the so that he can ignore the patronizing staff career. He treats the reader to a story that language, nothing else. In that sense, ECI Literature Prize. Client E. Busken who are treating him like an infant and brings to mind the greats of world litera­ this new highlight in Brouwers’ oeuvre, might be his last novel. depriving him of all privacy. He who, by ture: Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness and misanthropic though it might be, is an Photo: Stephan Vanfleteren his own account, was a neurosurgeon, a single-day narrative, Proust’s polyphony inimitable paean to us all.’ paleogeneticist, a Latin scholar, a robot­ of inner voices (with the name of the De Standaard ics engineer. Or maybe just a mailroom nursing home, Villa Madeleine, being employee – we never find out for sure.‘I’m an explicit reference), Svevo’s cigarette losing track of things,’ Busken admits. He motif, the misanthropy of Canetti’s Kien. ‘Fantastic! Once you’ve finished is a rather unreliable omniscient narrator Brouwers’ prose is a succession of Client E. Busken, you’ll want to pick it – whether because of his forgetfulness or masterful sentences that beg to be read back up and start all over. Busken is because he’s deliberately wrongfooting out loud so you can savour them one by like a grumpy old man on speed.’ the reader in an act of rebellion against one on your tongue. As Brouwers him­ DWDD the outside world, which has robbed him self said in an interview, ‘Even as an old of his freedom. His rich use of language fart I’ve gone and done something truly ‘A monument of language.’ serves as a testament to his erudition, but innovative.’ Trouw

6 NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 7 Publishing details Rodaan Al Galidi Holland (2020) 399 pages 101,543 words Holland 7,500 copies sold

Rights De Kade Tragicomic novel about a displaced Rodaan Al Galidi [email protected]

man trying to find his way in life Rights sold World English (World Editions)

Translated titles Two Blankets, Three Sheets: US (World Semmier Karim fled Iraq and ended up and empathizes with the people in the Editions, 2020) in the Netherlands where, after waiting pictures. It’s his way of fostering a con­ The Autist and the Carrier Pigeon: in an asylum seekers’ center for nine nection with people who could disappear Bulgaria (Balkani, 2013), Denmark years, he finally received a residency from his life at any moment. (Turbine, 2013), Italy (Il Sirente, 2016), permit. In Two Blankets, Three Sheets, Beneath seemingly casual observa­ Lithuania (Gelmés, 2015), Macedonia (Ikona, 2013), Serbia (Zavet, Rodaan Al Galidi described the tions about a typical Western society, 2013), Slovenia (KUD Sodobnost bureaucratic red tape surrounding readers will discover a novel about iden­ International, 2016), Czech Republic immigration; in the sequel, Holland, tity and the need for kinship. Al Galidi (Daupin, 2015) Semmier gets to know the country and shows, painfully, how solidarity with its inhabitants. He affectionately criti- other people can make you both strong ‘The chasm is there. But Semmier cizes Dutch society and provides funny and weak. When Semmier has a socially doesn’t waste time complaining Rodaan Al Galidi descriptions of First World problems. maladjusted friend move into his room in about it – he does everything in is a poet and writer. Born in Iraq, trained as an architectural engineer, the student flatshare, the others give him his power to get closer, both to Semmier’s various temporary homes a choice: either his friend goes or they he has lived in the Netherlands since Lidewij and to the Netherlands. 1998. His novel The Autist and the include a farm, a monastery, a run-down both do. Without a moment of doubt, That’s what makes this novel so Carrier Pigeon (2009) was crowned apartment shared by a bunch of students, Semmier packs his bags and they both digestible and so painful at the with the prestigious European Union and a house full of undocumented people leave. Prize for Literature in 2011. 2016 saw same time: it’s more of a comedy the publication of his well-received and asylum seekers. He eats simple Dutch At the end of the book it turns out that of manners about someone trying fare (potatoes, boiled-to-death vegetables Semmier’s search for a home, friendship poetry collection Refrigerator Light to integrate than an indictment and his sixth novel, Two Blankets, and one piece of meat per person), listens and love hasn’t entirely succeeded. Sem­ of the impossibility of ever Three Sheets, which sold 60,000 to many political discussions and attends mier’s grief and acceptance of his fate will succeeding at that, which makes copies. a farewell ceremony for a rabbit. leave no reader untouched. With Holland, the criticism inherent in the novel Photo: Writers Unlimited / Serge Ligtenberg Semmier discovers that walking a dog Al Galidi gives readers a sneak peek into hit all the harder.’ is the best way to get talking to Dutch his own photo album and sheds light on people – in fact just walking with a ball the predicament of displaced people. NRC Handelsblad and a leash is enough. Semmier gets to know people, makes friends and falls About Two Blankets, Three Sheets: in love with the somber Lidewij. His ‘This vital, eye-opening work unrequited love for her runs like a thread is essential to our collective throughout the book. Semmier’s hobby education, as a history, as a call – collecting discarded photo albums from to action, bringing one person’s acquaintances – is another leitmotif. As suffering vividly to life in the he studies the pictures of them and their imagination of strangers.’ ancestors, he invents their life stories The Guardian

8 NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 9 Publishing details Pieter Waterdrinker De rat van Amsterdam (2020) 592 pages 194,825 words The Rat of Amsterdam 30,000 copies sold

Rights Nijgh & Van Ditmar A pitch-black novel about a universe Jolijn Spooren [email protected]

dominated by deceit and hypocrisy Translated titles The German wedding: UK (Atlantic Books, 2009), Germany (Aufbau, 2007) The Long Song of Tchaikovsky Street: Germany (Matthes & Seitz, 2020), Pieter Waterdrinker’s panoramic new their fingerprints. He figures out a way to World English (Scribe, in preparation) book is a hellish indictment of the link together the fingerprints of people Liebman’s ring: Russia (St. Petersburg charity industry, the fraudulent use living in the same area. Later he returns Limbus Press, 2003) of EU funds, and shysters who pay to Russia, where he puts his rhetorical gratuitous lip service to altruism but and creative genius to use working for the are really just looking to line their own ‘Siberian Front,’ a group that organizes pockets. a reconnaissance trip through Russia for Europeans seeking to emigrate. When his Meet Ruben Ivanovich Katz (b. 1978, childhood sweetheart Phaedra drowns, Riga), the protagonist of Pieter Water­ he gets the blame. drinker’s gripping new novel, The Rat of Ruben Katz, who is writing all this Amsterdam. He is Latvian, Russian, Jewish down at the age of 41 in a Dutch prison and holds a passport to the ‘flower-bulb cell, swears he is innocent of Phaedra’s Pieter Waterdrinker kingdom by the sea.’ death – that his life has just happened to (b. 1961) grew up in the seaside resort He and his parents left the Soviet him, including his metamorphosis from of Zandvoort, where his parents ran Union less than a year before the country human to rat. a family hotel. He has been based in fell apart, traveling to Poland, Germany Ruben is the perfect vehicle for Water­ Russia since 1996, dividing his time and the Netherlands, with Israel as the drinker to take on big topics such as between Moscow and St. Petersburg intended final destination they never love and death as well as offer his view of and working as a writer and corre- spondent for De Telegraaf. His work reached. Only Ruben’s father is Jewish, humankind and the precarious times we ‘Reading Waterdrinker is a joy. No has been published in many different but the Katz family pretends to be of pure live in. Through Ruben, he gives a face trepidation, no clenched butt languages all over the world. descent so that they can emigrate. But to the nebulous figure of the Russian - cheeks, no political correctness of Photo: Julia Lisnyak that’s not the only lie in the life of this that unknown, yet feared and maligned any kind. No Dutch parsimonious- failed migrant, who seems to be carrying other who, Waterdrinker shows, is not an ness. No – his writing is rich, fatty, the entire history of the failed Soviet ounce better or worse than anyone else in empire on his shoulders. Waterdrinker’s Europe. all-or-nothing, grand – like a giant, literary universe is one characterized Waterdrinker’s literary talent is like a Russian.’ by deceit and hypocrisy, and this new revealed in the long, breathless sentences De Standaard novel appears to form a thematic trilogy and stunning turns of phrase that propel with his previous novels Poubelle and the story forward and constantly reveal ‘He paints a grotesque but entirely 40 Tchaikovsky Street. new layers of meaning. Language is like credible picture of the mentality Ruben starts off working for the liquid gold in Waterdrinker’s hands. of those people who cynically ‘National Poor People’s Lottery,’ which exploit charity.’ people play with a lottery ticket based on De Groene Amsterdammer

10 NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 11 Publishing details Arthur Japin Mrs. Degas (2020) 336 pages Mrs. Degas 75,000 words Publisher De Arbeiderspers Jolijn Spooren A sensitive novel that looks back on [email protected] Translated titles the life of the iconoclastic French Please see impressionist en.vertalingendatabase.nl

Arthur Japin brings us another brilliant appears to be an attempt to shed light historical novel centered on an artist on a painful episode from Degas’ past, – this time, Edgar Degas. In this book he form the framework for Japin’s masterful once again has the artist look back on reconstruction – hovering somewhere Arthur Japin his life, resulting in a wholly engrossing between fact and fiction. It’s the intrigu­ (b. 1956) has written for the stage as account that also allows Japin to share ing story of the only – and impossible – well as for radio, film and television. his views on what it means to be an love of the painter’s life: his blind Creole His breakthrough came in 1997 with artist. cousin, Estelle. During a visit to his family the novel De zwarte met het witte in New Orleans, where his brother René hart (The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi), which sold over 150,000 copies and There’s an empty white page and it needs to – Estelle’s husband – ran a business, was awarded several prizes. Een be filled. That’s the opening sentence of Degas painted a portrait of her arranging schitterend gebrek (In Lucia’s Eyes) this compelling novel. It refers to Degas’ flowers. Years earlier, this same Estelle, won him the Libris Literature Prize in blank canvas, waiting for the first black newly widowed, had fled the American 2004 and the Inktaap young readers line, but it’s also an allusion to Japin’s Civil War to move into her painter cous­ award, while De overgave (Surrender) received the Dutch Railways Readers’ task as a writer. ‘I’m interested in the in’s Paris apartment. ‘[Japin] is a novelist who disavows Prize (NS Publieksprijs) in 2008. Since emotional story, the layer beneath the Japin alternates between the story the restraint that characterizes then he has published four more facts. I keep those facts intact, but I want of the artist in his Paris circle and his successful novels as well as several much of Dutch literature. His novellas and short stories. His books to know how things felt.’ says Japin. And sojourn in the US. Japin has a clear prefer­ characters are passionate, they as a reader, too, you get to slip under the ence for the turmoil and drama that char­ have sold more than one and a half have big strengths and big million copies in the Netherlands French painter’s skin and be swept up in acterize the latter, along with the exotic flaws – in short, they lack that alone, and have been published in a story that will be etched into your mind setting. He explored similar territory in characteristic Calvinist mediocrity, more than twenty different languages. as indelibly as Degas’ pictures of balleri­ The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi and In and are more reminiscent of Photo: Corbino nas and melancholy absinthe drinkers. Lucia’s Eyes – about the life of Casanova – 19th-century novels such as The place is Paris, the year is 1912. as well as in Vaslav (about Nijinsky) and Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina Degas, the painter, is a grumpy old man, Kolya (about the Tchaikovsky brothers). by now virtually blind. The night before Mrs. Degas fits nicely into this series, in and The Idiot.’ he is forced to move out of the house that which the author interweaves page- Trouw holds a lifetime’s worth of paintings, turning entertainment with his views on papers and documents, a young Ameri­ art. Japin keeps choosing figures from ‘A beautiful but sad story that can woman shows up at his door offering different disciplines – ballet, music and can be seen as a plea to always to help him organize his archives. It turns this time painting – in order to maintain be honest and straightforward out that she plays a special role in his the distance that he feels is necessary in about your feelings, no matter how family history. Her cryptic reports of her the creative process. difficult that might be.’ visits, and her feverish research in what De Telegraaf

12 NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 13 14 #poetic language #religion #sexuality #nature greatest source of inspiration. He is Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s Jan Wolkers (1969) 2seasagency.com marleen.seegers@ Marleen Seegers Rights: 2Seas Agency, than 20 countries Rights sold to more bourgeois woman. a sculptor anda ill-fated love between Raw novel aboutthe DELIGHT TURKISH

Cover of the English edition by Faber & Faber (1964) meulenhoffboekerij.nl averweij@ Anita Verweij Rights: Meulenhoff, Sweden (Forum) (PIW), Turkey(Versus), (Magvető), Poland (Rowohlt), Hungary Rights sold: Germany sexuality. stories of his nascent are accompanied by death of his brother parents and the author’s Calvinistic novel about the Autobiographical OEGSTGEEST RETURN TO

Booker Prize 2020 is the winner of the International translated by Michele Hutchison by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, The Discomfort of Evening

#homosexuality #adolescence #families #dark humour immenselyLGBTQ to the community. homosexual in the early 1960s contributed of Dutch authors. His coming out as a and melancholy, influenced later generations An author whose inimitable style, full of wit Gerard Reve (1947) debezigebij.nl u.matten@ Uta Matten debezigebij.nl m.nagtegaal@ Marijke Nagtegaal Rights: DeBezige Bij, Sweden (Ersatz). Kedi Yayinlari),(Kirmizi (Acantilado), Turkey drustvo), Spain (Hrvatsko filolosko (Iperborea), Croatia (Pushkin Press), Italy (Merlin),English World (Turbine), Germany Rights sold: Denmark novel on boredom’. to as ultimate‘the Egters. referred Often Fritsadolescent van novel about the lonely Dark and caustic THE EVENINGS

NEW (1949) debezigebij.nl u.matten@ Uta Matten debezigebij.nl m.nagtegaal@ Marijke Nagtegaal Rights: DeBezige Bij, (Pushkin Press). Rights sold: UK repulsion begins. of attraction and a member, a game Werther becomes When mysterious forming secret clubs. control the world by Young Elmer triesto NIELAND NIELAND WERTHER

DUTCH

FICTION

please check territories. For more rights information So far the book has been sold to over 35 prestigious prize. youngestand person writer towin this Marieke Lucas Rijneveld is the first Dutch [email protected] or contact the rights manager Hayo Deinum #closed communities #young adults #trauma #absent parents families in secluded areas. young adults coping with dysfunctional director. In his two novels he writes about A poet, children’s book author and theatre Jaap Robben singeluitgeverijen.nl j.spooren@ SpoorenJolijn Rights: DeGeus, (Kahve Yayinlari). (Ars Vivendi), Turkey Editions), Germany World English (World Republic (Vysehrad), Rights sold: Czech role of his father. him to take mother, who wants to stand up to his and guilt Mikael has Overwhelmed by grief dies in theattempt. from drowning, but His father saves him the coast of Scotland. lives on an island off Nine-year-old Mikael (2014) TO LOVE LOVE TO YOU HAVE ME

en.vertalingendatabase.nl

over the

(2018) singeluitgeverijen.nl j.spooren@ SpoorenJolijn Rights: DeGeus, (Mladinska knjiga) and Ferber), Slovenia Russia (Mann, Ivanov Republic (Albatros), Editions), Czech English (World sold:Rights World circumstances. love in troubled account of brotherly An honest, tender brother Lucien. care of his disabled summer he has to take shady father. One in a caravan with his 13-year old Brianlives SUMMER COAT

#nature #homosexuality #death of sibling #farming community #poetic language Prize in 2013 for Twin and the Independent Foreign Fiction IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2010 for An author who won both the International Gerbrand Bakker other related authors. Michele Hutchison to recommend four taste for Dutch literature, we have asked For publishers who have now gotten a (2006) [email protected] Stella Rieck Rights: Cossee, than 25countries. Rights sold to more hands. his life into his own cousin, he triesto take sister-in-law and his reconnects with the farm. When he brother’s role on to taking over his resigned himself died, Helmer had After his twin brother THE TWIN THE TWIN

AUTUMN 2020

The Detour. (2009) [email protected] Stella Rieck Rights: Cossee, (Rayo Verde)Spain Macedonia (Antolog), Italy (Iperborea), Germany (Suhrkamp), France (Gallimard), (Harvill Secker), (Gyldendal), England (Rayo Verde),Denmark Rights sold: Catalonia whole family. still influences the later, this tragic death killed.Forty years the village baker and Kaan was run over by daughterof Anna In 1969 the 2-year-old JUNE

The 15 Publishing details Jente Posthuma Waar ik liever niet aan denk (2020) 239 pages What I’d Rather Not Think About 39,932 words Publisher Pluim Loving depiction of twins who have Rights Cossee Stella Rieck grown apart [email protected]

What if one half of a pair of twins physically affectionate; on trips to New no longer wants to live? What if the York and the fall of the Twin Towers. She other can’t live without them? Those tells of their adult lives, how her brother questions are at the heart of What I’d tried to find happiness, lost himself in Rather Not Think About, Jente Posthu- various men and the Bhagwan move­ ma’s second novel. The protagonist is ment, though never completely. How Two – that’s not her real name, but it’s she wanted him to know that she needed what her brother calls her because she him, but never managed to find the right was born 45 minutes later. The brother words. himself is One. To dull the pain, she collects sweaters: ‘At twenty-seven years old, I had one hun­ Jente Posthuma This ranking implies that the brother is dred and forty-two sweaters and it was (1974) debuted in 2016 with People the strongest and smartest. No one is wor­ time go to therapy.’ She grows obsessed Without Charisma, which was pub- ried about him. ‘“There’s nothing my son with Mengele and his experiments on lished to critical acclaim: Dutch news- paper Trouw described it as ‘assured, can’t do,” my mother used to say. “He’ll twins. And even though she’s married to dryly funny, wholly individual.’ It was grow up to do something special.”’ That’s Leo, her brother always remains number nominated for the Diraphte Literatour also how Two sees him. He’s her anchor. one. Prize and the Hebban Debut Prize as well as longlisted for the ANV Debu- But from the very first page, when brother Posthuma’s scenes are deceptively ‘A tragic story about twins in which and sister ‘play waterboarding,’ the book light and sometimes wryly absurd, full of tantenprijs for best debut novel. Her there’s still plenty to grin about.’ second novel, What I’d Rather Not chips away at that image. Because even dialogue that is all about what’s not being De Volkskrant Think About (2020), has been just as though people say that twins understand said. Two’s urge to keep her brother close well-received. each other wordlessly, this isn’t true for is always pulsing beneath the surface. But ‘The strength here is truly in Photo: Bas Uterwijk the twins in Posthuma’s novel – or at least her brother is ‘broken and can’t be fixed the minimalist prose – razor- it hasn’t been since they were nine. That anymore.’ After his death, Two hides out sharp sentences that often slot was the year he got bullied in school; from in his apartment, reading and rereading that moment on ‘my brother’s eyes slowly his journals. The desire to understand together perfectly in a seemingly extinguished.’ him remains, but she doesn’t find the nonchalant way. The result is a In brief, precise vignettes, Posthuma answers she’s looking for. Posthuma has powerful story about death, life tells the story of a depressive brother, written a novel about this predicament and survival.’ viewed from the perspective of the sister that is deeply moving, vulnerable and Nederlands Dagblad who resents her twin, struggles to under­ funny. stand him and misses him terribly. She ‘A poignant, restrained novel about looks back on their childhood, with an depression.’ absent father and a mother who wasn’t Trouw

16 NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 17 Publishing details Ewoud Kieft De onvolmaakten (2020) 384 pages 88,574 words The Imperfected Sample translation available

Rights De Bezige Bij Fundamental questions about free Marijke Nagtegaal [email protected] Uta Matten will, identity and the consequences of [email protected] manipulation and nudging

In historian Ewoud Kieft’s science- takes place beyond the network is care­ fiction novel, people are healthy and by fully kept from them. And yet Cas finds and large fairly happy. Sexism, racism himself growing dissatisfied with this and physical decay are virtually extinct. unruffled existence after he encounters Artificial intelligence has found its way the ‘Imperfected,’ a group of misogynistic into all aspects of society, and smart reactionaries who embrace physical decay algorithms monitor and assist people as as an expression of freedom. When Cas they go about their everyday lives. falls under their spell, disconnects from the network and disappears, Gena has to The nature of these algorithms is deter­ explain to the Conglomerate’s Supervi­ mined by the protocols of ‘the Conglom­ sory Board what has happened. Why was erate,’ a tech giant-cum-secret service. she unable to keep him from going down The system has rendered politics and this road? religion superfluous; work has been The novel’s unique narrative perspec­ ‘Playful and serious, Ewoud Kieft automated, and many people are leading tive is its great strength. Gena’s support has a profound understanding of Ewoud Kieft prosperous and peaceful lives. In this and guidance is subtle and empathetic the eternal, universal struggle: the (1977) is a writer, historian and seemingly idyllic existence, the operating – she ‘tries to avoid playing the role of musician. Previously, he wrote War shadow sides of freedom and the Enthusiasm and The Banned Book, system Gena plays a central role. Gena judge and jury, an all-seeing institution essence of our individuality. An is an application that serves as a custo­ which judges their actions and decisions’. respectively about the attraction of exceptionally intelligent, exciting war and Nazism. Both books were dian, teacher and parent figure all rolled Consequently, Gena does not have access debut.’ shortlisted for the Libris History Prize. into one – as well as being the narrator to all of Cas’ thoughts – he also has the The Imperfected is his fiction debut. Het Parool of Kieft’s novel. Through Gena we get to option of turning off the app and being know the protagonist of The Imperfected: free from supervision for a while. Kieft Photo: Stephan Vanfleteren Casimir Zeban or Cas, a somewhat adrift makes clever use of this ‘freedom’, creat­ ‘There’s something exciting guy in his early thirties who relies on ing gaps in the story that make the reader about sci-fi novels, because they Gena for companionship, mental health empathize with both Gena and Cas and confront you with the unknown, support and even advice on his love life. that raise fundamental questions about and done well – with the right mix The novel becomes increasingly free will, identity and the unforeseen con­ of the familiar and the strange – dystopian as the downsides of a world sequences of manipulation and nudging. they can have real literary merit. controlled by algorithms become appar­ Ewoud Kieft steers clear of easy answers. Ewoud Kieft’s The Imperfected is ent. The residents of the Conglomerate He explores the idea that manipulation one of those books [...] Kieft deftly lead exceedingly comfortable lives, but and paternalism can also lead to regres­ juggles the opposing forces of the they are also docile, unaccustomed to sion and the rise of reactionary ideology. familiar and the strange. pain, emotionally impoverished. What Gripping and ominously topical. Trouw

18 NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 19 Publishing details Cynthia McLeod Hoe duur was de suiker? (1987) 292 pages 101,662 words The Cost of Sugar 150,000 copies sold

Rights De Geus A timely and poignant bestseller from Jolijn Spooren [email protected]

Suriname about rivalry, love and slavery Translated titles The Cost of Sugar: Germany (Bastei Lübbe, 1998), Suriname (The Waterfront Press, 2007 in English) Ma Rochelle passée: Germany The Cost of Sugar takes us to 18th-cen- up the plantations, and now they find (Bastei Lübbe, 2000) tury Suriname, the heyday of the sugar themselves powerless as they watch their The free negress Elisabeth: UK trade. Set against a backdrop of histor- valuable investment drying up before (Arcadia, 2008), Suriname (The ical events from the period, it tells the their eyes. Sarith is in a similar predic­ Waterfront Press, 2004 in English), story of the sisters Sarith and Elizabeth. ament: despite her great beauty, she is Netherlands (Conserve, 2015 in English) Their vastly different personalities end having no luck finding a man. Elizabeth is up having dramatic ramifications – for the first to get married, to the ambitious, themselves, for the slaves around progressive Dutchman Rutger. They start them and, by extension, for our under- a loving family in Paramaribo, Surina­ standing of Holland’s slavery past. me’s capital. Sarith is jealous and tries to Cynthia McLeod seduce Rutger, but her egotism gets in the (1936) grew up in Suriname as Cynthia Who is the smartest sister? Who is the way. When she takes her despair out on Ferrier, the daughter of Johan Ferrier, the first president of post-indepen- prettiest? At surface level, The Cost of Ashana, her stepfather’s personal slave, it ‘Cynthia McLeod’s 1987 novel Sugar is about the rivalry between the causes a rift with Elizabeth and Rutger. dence Suriname. Her debut The Cost is a bestseller about several of Sugar catapulted her to instant beautiful, spoiled Sarith and her more But The Cost of Sugar is not just about plantation families, rich in detail literary fame in Suriname. Trained measured, considerate foster sister Elza. the sisters and their lives. We also get and the contradictions between as a teacher, McLeod makes her Growing up in the upper echelons of to know Mini-Mini, Sarith’s personal knowledge of Surinamese history master and slave, with people’s accessible to a broad audience. After Surinamese society, on a plantation with house slave, offering us a glimpse into the love lives in the Dutch colony many slaves, their overriding focus is on inhumane conditions in which the slaves her debut she wrote several other forming a key theme.’ historical novels, including The Free finding a suitable husband. But beneath are forced to live. We also see the revolt De Volkskrant Negress Elisabeth: Prisoner of Colour that surface, their story touches on more against slavery from multiple perspec­ (2000), about Elisabeth Samson. profound, deep-seated issues. tives: that of the escaped slaves – the When we first meet the sisters, the Maroons – themselves, and of the troops ‘What makes the novel even Photo: Chris van Houts plantations are going through a period of of reinforcements sent from the Nether­ more valuable is its take on the upheaval. The soil is becoming barren, lands to quell the uprising, but also that complex and constantly shifting slaves are beginning to revolt and there is of those slaves who, in exchange for their social dynamics of 18th-century growing friction between the plantation freedom, are made to turn against their Suriname. In her book McLeod owners about the sometimes gruesome own people. shows the subtle hierarchies and punishments that are meted out to slaves. The Cost of Sugar is a compelling novel codes of conduct that existed And it becomes apparent that things are about interwoven, forgotten histories. in Suriname during the heyday more complex than they first appeared. Now especially, it deserves to be read by a of plantation culture, where the Sarith is Jewish: her ancestors were wide audience. weak links were and what ushered the first planters to settle in Suriname. in its downfall.’ They devoted their lives to building NRC Handelsblad

20 CLASSIC NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 21 Publishing details Laura van der Haar Een week of vier (2020) 160 pages Around Four Weeks 41,000 words Rights Podium Feline Streekstra A young single mother faces an [email protected] impossible decision amid a deadly pandemic

What do you do when you’re a single Haar describes with impressive empathy parent without a social safety net and how Ida tries to stem her growing panic. you become sick with a highly conta- With deft mastery of language, she crafts gious virus? Laura van der Haar aptly a tender portrait of a mother’s all-en­ describes this predicament in her tense, compassing love for her baby. It’s both claustrophobic Covid-19 thriller. funny and moving how she has Ida use everyday words as terms of endearment Ida lives in Barcelona. She has a little for her daughter – ‘my little tailgater,’ ‘my girl named Joanes who is barely three little oil tanker’ – or how she describes months old. Ida is feeling short of breath the mixture of cold and warm air in that and is afraid she has contracted the virus. transitional time between winter and She’s almost completely on her own – she spring as ‘2-in-1 weather: vanilla custard followed her boyfriend Rainer to Barce­ with swirls of chocolate.’ lona, but he took off not long after. She’s Van der Haar slowly ratchets up the renting a small apartment and doesn’t tension, creating an eerie, alienating know anyone except her yoga pal Nellie atmosphere reminiscent of masters of Laura van der Haar and a colleague from the bakery where suspense like Alfred Hitchcock or Roald (b. 1982) won the Dutch Poetry Slam she works. She doesn’t feel at home here. Dahl. We’re right there in Ida’s head as Championship and debuted as a She can’t seem to get used to the cul­ she gets more and more anxious and poet with Bodemdrang (Digging In). In ‘With the pace of a thriller, a 2018, her debut novel Het wolfgetal ture or the climate. Though she doesn’t paranoid. Is it all just a bad dream? And surprising plot, profound empathy (The Wolf Number) was published to know a lot of people in the Netherlands what role does her friend Nellie play in and poetic language, Van der Haar critical acclaim. either – both of her parents are dead – the all this? has given us the gift of the first Photo: Keke Keukelaar prospect of living in a village again and fully-fledged corona novel.’ reconnecting with her grandmother, Elsevier Weekblad some friends from university and the girl who used to live next door to her was enough for her to start planning a move ‘Van der Haar skillfully back home. But the virus has completely manipulates her readers.’ upended those plans. Trouw It started with just sneezing, but a sore throat, muscle pain, a fever and night­ ‘Van der Haar is at her best when mares are forcing Ida to realize she needs she puts us inside Ida’s fraying to get tested and treated. But who will mind.’ take care of her sweet little girl? Van der NRC Handelsblad

22 THRILLER NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 23 Publishing details Dido Drachman Zwanendrifters (2020) 136 pages Swan Herders Full color Rights Scratch Chris Mokken A gripping graphic novel about a lost [email protected] childhood, masterfully painted in neon colors

Even though she’s just a teenager, Bettie has already witnessed a lot of poverty, abuse and neglect. But the discovery of an old videotape might change every- thing. After all, dreams of escape can help you rise above even the most toxic environments. Dido Drachman ‘Swan Herders is a poetic book that ‘Dido Drachman proves that the comic Ever since Bettie’s mother disappeared (b. 1992) is one of the most exciting gives a detailed account of the book format lends itself perfectly to many years ago, she and her brother new talents on the Dutch comic-book scene. After earning a Bachelor’s coming-of-age of a girl trying to visual poetry. She has the talent to have been living with their incompetent degree in Illustration, Drachman escape her destiny. A subtle debut.’ let her drawings float like clouds in and aggressive father. As she suffers his moved to Brussels, the comic-book Judith Vanistendael the sky – weightless, but chock-full of abuse, Bettie dreams of a way out. Her capital of the world. After receiving emotion.’ her master’s degree in Graphic Sto- prayers are answered when she finds Aimée de Jongh an old videotape with a recording of rytelling in 2019, Drachman exploded onto the European comic scene a Dutch game-show episode. Bettie is with her impressive debut graphic shocked to see that her mother is one of novel Zwanendrifters (Swan Herders, the contestants on the show. Though the 2020). The book combines mature end is cut off, Bettie is convinced that her storytelling and bright watercolors, mother won the game, and that she used reminiscent of authors like Brecht Evens. Drachman’s stories remind us the money to chase her dream: moving that although life can be difficult, it is abroad and getting rich. Bettie embarks always full of color. on a journey to find her mother. In doing so, she hopes to escape her own fate as well. Presenting a widespread issue like child abuse in such fearless, bright colors is a bold choice – and something only a skilled storyteller can pull off. Dido Drachman succeeds marvelously. Her drawings glow like neon, lighting up a young girl’s journey with optimism and hope.

24 GRAPHIC NOVEL NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 25 This is a selection of recently published translations from the Dutch. For more information please go to our online database of translations: RECENT en.vertalingendatabase.nl

Alfred Birney Jeroen Brouwers Martin Michael Driessen Rob van Essen Marga Minco The interpreter from Java „Indijska” trilogija. Folyók Der gute Sohn Das bittere Kraut. Eine Potonulo; Prigušeno kleine Chronik Translated into English by crveno; Potop Translated into Hungar- Translated into German by David Doherty for Head of ian by Anikó Daróczi for Ulrich Faure for Homonculus Translated into German Zeus, 2020 Translated into Serbian by Gondolat, 2020 Verlag, 2020 by Marlene Müller-Haas Olivera Petrović van der for Arco Verlag, 2020 Leeuw for Futura, 2020

NOWA SERIA BELETRYSTYCZNA HOLENDERSKA DZIEWCZYNA MARENTE DE MOOR EUROPEAN Poznaj nasz wyjątkowy wybór nagra­ (ur. 1972) studiowała języki słowiań­ UNION dzanych utworów literackich z całego PR IZE FOR skie i w latach 90. mieszkała w Rosji, świata w doskonałych przekładach. LITER ATUR E gdzie pracowała dla mediów rosyjskich „Literatura holenderska zyskała bardzo ory­ i holenderskich. Jej teksty o absurdal­ ginalną pisarkę, z nieskończoną wyobraźnią, nej rosyjskiej codzienności zostały ze­ która, miejmy nadzieję, będzie kontynuowała brane i wydane w zbiorze Petersburgse pisanie wielu nowych powieści równie olśnie­ vertellingen w 1999 roku. Po powrocie wa jących jak ta”. Marente de Moor do Holandii pracowała przez kilka lat „Trouw” w magazynie „HP/De Tijd”. Jej wysoko „Mistrzowsko napisana historia, która iskrzy ceniona debiutancka powieść De over- i budzi emocje, demonstrując na każdej stro­ treder ukazała się w roku 2007. Pracuje nie bogactwo języka”. jako felietonistka dla politycznego ma­ „Limburgs Dagblad” HOLENDERSKA gazynu „Vrij Nederland”. Holenderska dziewczyna, jej druga powieść, została opublikowana w 2010 roku. W samej Holandii sprzedano jej 70 tysięcy eg­ ZŁOWROGA ATMOSFERA, zemplarzy. Przetłumaczona na 10 języ­ MORALNE DYLEMATY, SZALONE NAMIĘTNOŚCI, DZIEWCZYNA ków, odbiła się szerokim echem także WSZYSTKO TO UJĘTE W PIĘKNIE WYRZEŹBIONE ZDANIA. w innych krajach. Autorka została lau­ reatką AKO Literature Prize i Nagrody

MARENTE DE MOOR Literackiej Unii Europejskiej. Niemcy, rok 1936. Naziści dochodzą do władzy. Janna, młoda Holenderka, zostaje wysłana przez ojca do rozgoryczonego arystokraty Egona von Bötti­ chera, który ma ją trenować w szermierce. To mężczyzna dręczony wojenną przeszłością, w którą zamieszany jest również ojciec Janny. Historia Janny to nie tylko opowieść o miłości i utracie niewinności, ale też obraz niespokojnej atmosfery zmian w historii, pełen niepewności i napięcia poprzedzającego drugą Subtelna opowieść wojnę światową. o bliznach zostawionych ISBN 978-83-66329-09-6 przez wojnę CENA: 39,90 ZŁ CENA: Patronaty: ISBN 978-83-66329-09-6

www.relacja.net 9 788366 329096 Zdjęcie autorki © Eddo Hartmann POWIEŚĆ facebook.com/relacja.net 9 788366 329096

Marente de Moor Marieke Lucas Rijneveld Joost de Vries Pieter Waterdrinker Milan Hulsing Holenderska dziewczyna Qui sème le vent Leurs ailes de géants Tschaikowskistraße 40 L’ attentat (Graphic novel)

Translated into Polish Translated into French by Translated into French by Translated into German Translated into French by by Ryszard Turczyn for Daniel Cunin for Buchet Emmanuèle Sandron for by Ulrich Faure for Daniel Cunin for La Boîte Relacja, 2020 Chastel, 2020 Les Escales, 2020 Matthes & Seitz, 2020 à Bulles, 2020 TRANSLATIONS

26 NEWDUTCHFICTION AUTUMN 2020 27 Translation Tiziano Perez, Victor Schiferli, Jos Morree Fine Books Advisory panel Andrea Kluitmann, Janita Monna, 28 Cover photo Contributions Claudia diPalermo Please contact usif you New Dutch Fiction is would like to beincluded on our mailinglist. editors andpublishers. distributedinternational to Philip Stroomberg Design Printing MeeneHellen van Emma Rault Kluitmann, Caroline Reeders Dijkgraaf,Fortuin, Arjen Andrea Esther opdeBeek, Margot Palermo, JeroenVullings Barbara den Ouden, Claudia di Marlies Hoff, Aimée de Jongh, Esther opdeBeek, DickBroer, Dick Broer, Barbara denOuden, Editors Wilco Art Books Wilco Art /

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CONTACT ‘An excellent novel [...] The stunning final chapter will leave readers gasping for air.’ ‘A monument of language.’ Gerda Blees We Are Light 4 Jeroen Brouwers Client E. Busken 6

‘Holland is more of a comedy of manners about someone trying to integrate than an indictment of the impossibility of ever succeeding at that.’ Rodaan Al Galidi Holland 8

‘Reading Waterdrinker is a joy. No trepidation, no clenched ‘He is the writer who time butt cheeks, no political and again manages to correctness of any kind.’ breathe new life into this Pieter Waterdrinker trope, often with great The Rat of Amsterdam 10 inventiveness.’ Arthur Japin Mrs. Degas 12 ‘Razor-sharp sentences that often slot together perfectly in a seemingly nonchalant way.’ ‘An exceptionally intelligent, Jente Posthuma exciting debut.’ What I’d Rather Not Think About 16 Ewoud Kieft The Imperfected 18

‘What makes the novel even more valuable is its take on the complex and constantly shifting social dynamics of 18th-century Suriname.’ Cynthia McLeod The Cost of Sugar 20

‘Van der Haar has given us the gift of the first fully-fledged corona novel.’ Laura van der Haar ‘She has the talent to let her Around Four Weeks 22 drawings float like clouds in the sky – weightless, but chock-full of emotion.’ Dido Drachman Swan Herders 24