10 Books from Holland London Bookfair Issue ederlands N letterenfonds dutch foundation for literature 2016 Spring 2017 2 10 Books from Holland Frequently Asked Questions Who decides the contents of this brochure? Do you subsidise production costs? Our editors. We want to showcase the best from the This is possible in the case of editions of poetry, illustrated Netherlands for our audience of literary publishers. Most titles children’s books or graphic novels. For regular fiction and have been published recently and have enjoyed good sales, non-fiction, we support translation costs only. excellent reviews and one or more literary awards or nomina- tions. Though sometimes one of these factors is enough. Equally We would like to invite a Dutch author for a promotional visit. important is the question: ‘Does it travel?’ Our advisors talk If you organise a good programme and offer the author to publishers from all over the world and while it is impossible to accommodation, we can cover the travel costs. say with certainty which novels will travel where, we have the expertise to make an educated guess. I’ve heard so much about the Amsterdam Fellowship. Every September, we organise a fellowship (4 days) for publish- At book fairs, do you talk about these books exclusively? ers and editors. We do not have an application procedure, but While we like to discuss our catalogue, there are always other you can always send us an e-mail stating your interest. titles: books that have just appeared or are about to come out or books that just missed our selection. Our advisors read as Individual Publisher’s Visits much fiction as they can. We host 8 to 10 publishers and editors per year on an individual basis. Usually, these are great if you already have one or more Do you work together with Dutch publishers and agents? Dutch authors on your list and would like to see them, combined We keep each other informed about interest in titles and rights with a schedule of meetings. sales. When we commission a sample translation, we usually share the costs. However, we always make our own decisions, What’s Schwob? and remain completely independent. Schwob.nl is a European network for forgotten or undiscovered books, established and maintained by translators, publishers How many books by one author will you support? and editors, researchers, readers and critics. We can support one author with three books. If the author has changed publishing houses, previous titles are not counted. Can I subscribe to Books from Holland? Please leave your card at our stand, or send a message. Are all books in your brochure eligible for a grant? All our past issues are available at www.letterenfonds.nl. Yes they are, with a maximum subsidy of 100% of the translation costs for classics and 70% for contemporary prose, based on Advisors Fiction 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 Can you help us find a translator? Fiction – France, Italy, Spain, Fiction – Germany, UK and Lists of experienced translators are provided by e-mail. Eastern Europe, Latin America US, Scandinavia, Israel, Russia. Graphic novels. South Africa. [email protected] [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? We need contracts with the rights holders and the translator, Tiziano Perez Alexandra Koch Managing Director Schwob plus the application form. You can submit digitally from our Fiction – Brazil, China, Japan. [email protected] website: http://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/translation-subsidy. [email protected] Meetings are held six times a year, the dates are announced on our website. 3 10 Books from Holland Herman Koch The Ditch A highly entertaining novel from the Netherlands’ most successful author Herman Koch’s latest novel revolves Apart from these suspicions, Robert’s life Publishing details around Robert Walter, the Mayor of is further complicated by his parents. His De greppel (2016) 319 pp., 90,000 words Amsterdam, a man faced with a wide aging father reveals that he plans to end 100,000 copies sold array of responsibilities and interests. his life together with his wife, not because As always in Koch’s novels, his lead they are ill, but because they have simply Rights character’s reliability soon begins to had enough. Both his parents are in their Shared Stories reveal its first flaws. 90s, but Robert is somewhat suspicious of Christel Meijer: [email protected] his father, who drives around in a sports www.sharedstories.nl Robert is unwilling to reveal the back- car and boasts that he can still score with www.hermankoch.com ground of his daughter and wife, who was young waitresses, which casts a shadow on born outside the Netherlands, because his intentions. Does this man really intend Rights sold ‘people might leap to all sorts of conclu- to end it all, for no clear reason, simply KiWi (Germany), Text (Australia), Siltala (Finland), Neri Pozza (Italy), sions’. On the other hand, he makes because things aren’t as much fun as they Salamandra (Spain), Baltos Lankos remarks that hint at his own prejudice, used to be? ‘Everything has become a game (Lithuania) commenting on the laziness and criminal in this country. It’s one big funfair. Even tendencies of people from certain coun- death,’ says Walter. tries. But he does not voice these opinions And then there’s another plotline, in public. Only the reader is privy to these revolving around a photo from the 1980s. ‘Herman Koch brilliantly thoughts. The citizens of his city see him Could that be Walter in the picture, meting demonstrates how people as an ever-friendly civil servant. out abuse? A journalist has the photo in see things that may not Another topic preying on Robert’s mind her portfolio. The curtain could drop at be there at all, how your is that he suspects his wife is unfaithful. any moment: no wife, no job, no parents. imagination can run away Having seen her laughing with a colleague But things take a different turn. Koch with you. The Ditch is an at a reception, all her subsequent behav- keeps readers on the edge of their seats ode to the imagination.’ iour seems to confirm his suspicions, until the very end, conjuring up a dramatic – Het Parool even though there is no real proof that twist that few will see coming. Ultimately, she is having an affair. Pursued by rising this book is about certainties, the fear of ‘Herman Koch, the best- paranoia, Robert is unable to find any loss, and jealousy. In short, another selling Dutch writer of evidence, until he concludes that the intense and highly entertaining novel from the post-war era, confirms absence of any visible sign offers the the Netherlands’ most successful author. once more that he is the firmest foundation for his misgivings. master of suspense and And so the world is turned upside down, open endings.’ – Humo but Walter sees no other explanation. ‘Koch has mastered the art with effortless superiority. Inventive, deceptively clear and packed with suspense. Seldom has a Herman Koch (b. 1953) is a widely acclaimed publisher’s promise been bestselling author. His international break- so fully delivered.’ through novel The Dinner (2009) has been – De Volkskrant published in 55 countries, which is unprec- edented for any Dutch novel. It has also been ‘Herman Koch is rapidly adapted into several international stage plays and no less than three movies. The US adapta- becoming one of my tion, starring Richard Gere and Steve Coogan, favourite writers. His three will be released in 2017. Koch’s subsequent novels, taken together, novels Summer House with Swimming Pool are like a killer EP where (2011, long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary every track kicks ass.’ Award) and Dear Mr M. (2014) were also international bestsellers. His latest novel, – Stephen King De Greppel (The Ditch), has been warmly received and declared ‘vintage Koch’. Photo: Annaleen Louwes 4 10 Books from Holland Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer Peachez. A Romance Tantalizing, philosophical novel about longing and deceit ‘The Professor, the Bikini Model and the with the poetry of Horace and Catullus, Publishing details Suitcase Full of Trouble’ ran the headline analytical, instructive. Hers – that is, those Peachez, een romance (2017) 174 pp., 36,407 words in The New York Times in 2013, above an of the people hiding behind her – are article about an Oxford professor of refreshing, playful, challenging and Rights particle physics, Paul Frampton, who disarming. It is a courtship between lovers De Arbeiderspers became the victim of ‘catfishing’. Surfing from two mutually exclusive worlds, yet Jolijn Spooren the internet, the physicist allowed they come together, as in George Bernard [email protected] www.arbeiderspers.nl himself to be tempted into committing Shaw’s Pygmalion, or, for other reasons, a criminal offence by a busty photo Nabokov’s Lolita.