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.