‘Much of the best postwar fiction written in Dutch has recently become available in English. Much still remains to be done.’ Fiction Tim Parks, The New York Review of Books Website Advisors Credits F All titles in this brochure can be Fiction Contributors found on the Foundation’s website: Barbara den Ouden Hein Aalders, Wiljan van den Akker, Joukje Akveld, Maarten Asscher, www.letterenfonds.nl. [email protected] E.M. Beekman †, David Colmer, Margot The category ‘Authors and Victor Schiferli Dijkgraaf, Anja de Feijter, Lieneke translators’ offers information on [email protected] Frerichs, Kester Freriks, Roelof van the work of nearly 500 Dutch- Gelder, Léon Hanssen, Wim Hazeu, language authors, and has a Pieter Steinz Ingrid Hoogervorst, Francis R. Jones, searchable database of more than [email protected] Leo Jansen, Bram de Klerck, Conny 17.000 translations from Dutch Kristel, Nop Maas, Marita Mathijsen, into other languages. Non-Fiction Gerda Meijerink, Willem Otterspeer, Victor Schiferli, Rob Schouten, Bart Maarten Valken Slijper, Kees Snoek, Pieter Steinz, Paul [email protected] Vincent, Maria Vlaar, Rudi Wester, Judith Wilkinson Children’s Books Agnes Vogt Editors [email protected] Dick Broer, Thomas Möhlmann, Barbara den Ouden, Victor Schiferli, Pieter Steinz, Maarten Valken, Poetry Agnes Vogt Thomas Möhlmann [email protected] Translation Diane Butterman, David Colmer, John Irons, Francis R. Jones, David McKay, Laura Watkinson, Liz Waters, Judith Wilkinson Copy-editing Liz Waters, Jan Michael Design Philip Stroomberg Printing Mart.Spruijt bv Nederlands Letterenfonds / Dutch Foundation for Literature Nieuwe Prinsengracht 89 1018 VR Amsterdam Tel. +31 20 520 73 00 Fax +31 20 520 73 99 Dutch Classics The Netherlands [email protected] www.letterenfonds.nl 3 Multatuli Little Walter Pieterse The Dutch Foundation for Literature / 4 Louis Couperus Eline Vere Nederlands Letterenfonds 5 Nescio Amsterdam Stories supports writers, translators and Dutch 6 F. Bordewijk Blocks; Growling Creatures; Bint literature in translation 6 Maria Dermoût Days Before Yesterday 7 J.J. Slauerhoff Life on Earth 7 E. du Perron Country of Origin Information Documentation centre Translators’ House The Foundation’s advisors on literary The documentation centre is an exten- The Translators’ House offers transla- 8 A. Alberts The Islands fiction, quality non-fiction, poetry and sive information resource regarding tors the opportunity to live and work children’s and youth literature are pres- Dutch literature abroad. The library in Amsterdam for a period of time. It 8 F. B. Hotz Men Play, Women Win ent each year at prominent book fairs, contains more than 11.000 trans- is involved with numerous activities including Frankfurt, London, Beijing lated titles in more than seventy-five assisting and advancing translators’ 9 Hella S. Haasse The Black Lake; The Ways of the Imagination and Bologna. The brochures Books languages. The documentation centre skills. Each year the Literary Transla- from Holland and Flanders, Quality can be visited by appointment. One tion Days are held for those transla ting Non-Fiction from Holland and Children’s significant component, the database of to and from Dutch. The event also 10 Willem Frederik Hermans Tears of the Acacias Books from Holland recommend high- Dutch-language literature in transla- includes translation workshops. lights from each category’s selection. tion, can be perused online at 11 Gerard Reve The Early Years www.vertalingendatabase.nl. Grants Translation Grants The Foundation for Literature is active 12 Jan Wolkers American Crewcut Foreign publishers wishing to publish Promotional travel locally, offering travel and work grants a translation of Dutch or Frisian litera- The Foundation is able to support a grants to authors and translators in the ture may apply for a subsidy towards publisher wishing to invite an author field of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and 12 J.J. Voskuil The Bureau the translation costs. Having acquired for interviews or public appearances. children’s and youth literature. Work- the rights, the publisher’s applica- Literary festivals are likewise eligible shops are also organized for beginning 13 Harry Mulisch Two Women tion must be accompanied by a copy for support. Additionally, the Founda- translators into Dutch. of the contract with the rights owner tion organizes international literary 14 Andreas Burnier The Boys’ Hour and a copy of the contract with the events in co-operation with local pub- Schwob translator. Application forms are avail- lishers, festivals and book fairs. Schwob draws attention to as-yet able from the Foundation’s website. undiscovered, untranslated world lit- 14 F. Springer Tehran: A Swan Song Subsidies are disbursed after receipt Writers-in-residence erature. Each month the editors select of proof samples, citing the subsidy. If The Foundation coordinates writer-in- a modern classic, spotlighting it on the Foundation is not acquainted with residence programmes together with www.schwob.nl, by way of reviews and the translator, a sample translation will foreign universities and institutions. sample translations. be evaluated by external advisors. The Foreign authors are also invited to maximum subsidy is 70% of the cost of spend time working in Amsterdam. Background translation. Applications for transla- They may stay one or two months The Dutch Foundation for Literature, tions that have already been published at the writers’ lodgings above the created in 2010 as the result of the cannot be taken into consideration. Athenaeum Bookshop on the Spui (in merger between the Foundation for Publishers looking for a qualified trans- co-operation with the Amsterdam Fund the Production and Translation of lator can request a list of endorsed for the Arts). In addition, Amsterdam Dutch Literature (NLPVF) and the translators for their specific language Vluchtstad offers accommodation Foundation for Literature (FvdL), is an area. to writers fleeing the regime of their independent organization financed by home country. the Ministry of Education, Culture and Illustrated Books Science. Policies and projects are car- In the case of illustrated children’s International visitors programme ried out in close co-operation with the books and/or graphic novels, foreign The visitors programme and the an- Flemish Literature Foundation. publishers can apply for assistance to nual Amsterdam Fellowship offer pub- cover a portion of the production costs. lishers and editors the opportunity to Interested in receiving a newsletter via Subsidies are jointly funded by the acquaint themselves with the publish- e-mail? Send your request to Mondrian Foundation and the Dutch ing business and the literary infrastruc- [email protected] or sign up on Foundation for Literature. ture of the Netherlands. the website www.letterenfonds.nl Dutch Classics Fiction An imaginative boy growing up in a narrow-minded Multatuli middle-class household, twelve-year-old Walter Pieterse is the first psychologically complex child protagonist in Little Walter Dutch literature. The boy wants to meet the expectations of the people around him, but they make demands he Pieterse can’t fulfil. Revolutionary portrait of It becomes clear Walter is an artist in the making, strug- a boy in the 19th century gling to rise above his origins. He would like to learn, but his teacher is interested only in classification. He wants to be a true Christian, but his pastor can’t explain how best to read the Bible. An adventure novel sets his imagination ablaze and inspires him to write stories of his own. Often recognised as the greatest nineteenth- Multatuli shows how stifling an unimaginative environ- century Dutch writer, Multatuli (Latin for ment can be. The message of the story is diametrically ‘I have borne much’) was the pseudonym of opposed to that of most nineteenth-century children’s books. Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-87). In 1838 The author questions received wisdom, pokes fun at religion he went to the Dutch East Indies, where he joined the civil service. His abilities and urges his readers not to bow to the wishes of their fami- were soon recognized and he rose through lies or any other type of community. the ranks, but he became repelled by the brutality of colonial rule and resigned. — When Sigmund Freud was asked to name his favourite Max Havelaar, his powerful indictment of books he put Multatuli’s Letters and Works at the top of colonialism, caused a sensation when it his list. was published in 1860, so far it has been — In 2007, Little Wouter Pieterse was successfully turned into translated into over forty languages. a large-format graphic novel by cartoonist Jan Kruis. — A full English translation can be found online at the Gutenberg Project. ‘If it weren’t for Multatuli, literature would simply be not done in the Netherlands, like deep-sea fishing in the Alps or coffee-growing in Newfoundland. Max Havelaar is his most famous book by far, but I personally think some parts of Little Walter Pieterse are far more beautiful.’ Willem Frederik Hermans ‘I don’t know the year; but, since the reader will be interested to know the time when this story begins, I will give him a few facts to serve as landmarks. My mother complained that provisions were dear, and fuel as well. So it must have been before the discovery of Political Economy. Our servant-girl married the barber’s assistant, who had only one Woutertje Pieterse (1890, most recent edition 2011) leg. “Such a saving of shoe-leather,” the good little 500 pages, 275.000 words soul argued. But from this fact one might infer that the science of Political Economy had already been Rights Public domain discovered. At all events, it was a long time ago. Amsterdam Publisher Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep had no sidewalks, import duties were still levied, +31 20 551 12 62 in some civilized countries there were still gallows, [email protected] and people didn’t die every day of nervousness.