I was delighted to see the write-up that my friend Colleen Higgins’s translation of Marieke van der Pol’s Bruidsvlucht received in her local newspaper back home. It’s a wonderful story and a great translation.
Hoorah for Colleen!
Congratulations to Gerbrand Bakker and David Colmer, author and translator of the Dutch title Boven is het stil, translated as The Twin, which just won the 2010 IMPAC Dublin literary award. A very deserving winner!
I love the writing magazine Mslexia and I’m a long-time subscriber, so I was particularly pleased to see one of my recent translation projects mentioned in the April/May/June edition of the magazine in their piece about Brenda Gardner’s Piccadilly Press.
They say, “Teen fiction remains a Piccadilly strength, although in terms of submissions Gardner is concentrating on the less saturated 8-12 and 5-8 markets. The Ballet Academy series by Beatrice Masini is a successful and perhaps classic example of writing pitched at this younger age group. In Friends Old and New, the problems are real yet easily surmounted, romance is grounded in friendship rather than lust and the story ends on a neat high note.”
Would have been nice to see a mention of the translator (me!), as we’re so often forgotten, but it’s great to see some translated children’s fiction receiving publicity in such a fabulous publication.
Congratulations to the ten winners of the Zilveren Griffels! These Dutch awards for children’s books have all gone to works that were originally written in Dutch this year and so they’re all eligible for the major Gouden Griffel award for the best children’s book of the past year, to be announced at the Children’s Book Ball on 5 October, which marks the opening of Children’s Book Week in the Netherlands. I have a couple of favourites, but the field’s wide open. Exciting stuff!
A fun – and very hot – day out in Haarlem at the Stripdagen, with all the very best of comics that the Low Countries have to offer. Comics and graphic novels everywhere you look, with lots of signings, interviews, exhibitions, impromptu sketching and the fabulous, specially designed festival beer from local brewery Jopen.
Highlights included finally getting to see the Flemish Literature Foundation’s travelling exhibition of work by Flemish creators of comic books, Ceci n’est pas la BD flamande, and watching a fine interview with Brecht Evens, winner of the first Willy Vandersteen prize for the best Dutch-language graphic novel. His winning title Ergens waar je niet wil zijn is soon to be published in English as The Wrong Place by Drawn and Quarterly, translated by a team of three: Rhian Heppleston, Michele Hutchison and yours truly, aka HepHutWat. Expect to see more kicking translations from this unbeatable trio!
Brecht Evens being interviewed at the Stripdagen 2010 in Haarlem
Go Dutch at Free Word Centre:
Awater by Martinus Nijhoff, with Christopher Reid, Wiljan van den Akker, David Colmer and Maria Barnas.
A new translation of the most important Dutch poem of the 20th Century.
Thursday 27th May 2010, 7pm, Free Word Centre, 60 Faringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA
Tickets £5 http://www.freewordonline.com/events/?event_id=96
Frank Westerman in conversation with John Kampfner about Engineers of the Soul
Thursday 8th June, 2010, 7pm, Free Word Centre, 60 Faringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA
Tickets £5 http://www.freewordonline.com/events/?event_id=97
Joris Luyendijk in conversation with John Kampfner about Hello Everybody! One Journalist’s Search for Truth in the Middle East
Thursday 24th June, 2010, 7pm, Free Word Centre, 60 Faringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA
Tickets £5 http://www.freewordonline.com/events/?event_id=98
Why translators deserve some credit: It’s time to acknowledge translators – the underpaid and unsung heroes behind the global success of many writers, says Tim Parks
I was very interested to find this piece on translation by Tim Parks in yesterday’s Observer. He’s one of those rare birds who is both a successful writer and a great translator and he has some valuable comments to make about the role of translators.
Here are three more interviews that I did in the run-up to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators symposium in Bologna. They’re hosted on Cynsations, Cynthia Leitich Smith’s fabulous blog, which is packed with fascinating information, stories and tips for anyone who’s interested in children’s books. Go and check it out!
I linked to my interviews with author Ellen Hopkins, illustrator John Shelley and author/illustrator Doug Cushman in my March 17 post Off to Bologna. Here are three new interviews with publishing professionals, one of whom also happens to be a writer.
I really enjoyed researching these interviews and the opportunity to have a ‘virtual’ chat with experts who were so kind and generous with their knowledge and time. It was great to receive such honest and open responses and I’m really pleased to be able to share them here.
Interviews with:
Author/editor Sara Grant of Working Partners
Editor and art director Deirdre McDermott of Walker Books
Publisher Sarah Foster of Walker Books Australia and New Zealand
Hope you enjoy them! I think I can guarantee that you’ll love going for a wander through Cynthia’s blog. Thanks, Cynthia!
Had a great meeting at the American Book Center in The Hague yesterday, talking with other SCBWI members about the book fair in Bologna and sharing all our news.
I passed on some stories from the SCBWI symposium and talked about the Netherlands showcase that I hosted at the SCBWI stand on Thursday afternoon.
Dutch delights
Thanks to Barbara Mazzotta from the Dutch Foundation for Literature for taking the picture.
It was fascinating to be on the other side of the table at the book fair, talking to people about the Netherlands chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and telling them about the latest and most exciting books from the Netherlands.
Check out John Shelley’s blog for some fine insights into Bologna and the SCBWI. And Angela Cerrito has posted some great pics on her blog too.
This article from Publishers Weekly gives a very positive impression of events at the book fair. I have to say that there seemed to be a lot of energy and enthusiasm in Bologna, certainly among our SCBWI bunch. Let’s hope that this translates into lots of fun projects and great new books.
Twitter: Laura_Wat
Tomorrow Pamplona – coming soon!
So, for some time now I’ve been working on a translation of Jan van Mersbergen’s wonderful book Morgen zijn we in Pamplona, which will be published in the UK by Peirene Press. What started as a few words typed on a computer screen is soon going to be a beautifully printed book. I’m tidying up the loose ends now and will be handing over the file to Peirene very soon. The sight of the cover on the Peirene Press website is spurring me on!
Here’s what people have said about the book:
A story about anger, aggression and the desire for intimacy by a rising star of modern Dutch literature.
A professional boxer and a family man meet by chance on a journey to the Pamplona Bull Run. The boxer is fleeing an unhappy love. The father hopes to escape his dull routine. Both know that, eventually, they will have to return to the place each calls “home”.
“An intense reading experience…Van Mersbergen tells what needs to be told and not a word more.” De Morgen
“A road movie in book form … one of the best books I’ve read this year.” Radio Bremen