The Dutch Foundation for Literature supports writers and translators and promotes Dutch literature abroad.
In 2010 the two largest literature foundations in the Netherlands united to form a single organization, the Dutch Foundation for Literature (Nederlands Letterenfonds)
For information about the activities of the Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature (NLPVF) and the Fonds voor de Letteren (FvdL) please visit the 'old' websites:
With a cigarette in one hand and a glass in the other, Doeschka Meijsing was a well-known figure in the Amsterdam literary world. Her aim in life was to write ‘as if every morning is sparkling new and the remains of last night’s party need to be swept together in language,’ as she puts it in her novel 100% chemie (100% Chemistry). The last thing she wanted was to make things easy for herself. She wrung life out until it hurt.
— Continue Doeschka Meijsing (1947-2012).
The ALA Batchelder Award has been awarded to Soldier Bear, the English translation of Bibi Dumon Tak’s Soldaat Wojtek. The Batchelder Award is given to the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States. “Dumon Tak has woven a humorous and bittersweet story from a little-known historical episode. Voytek will charm readers every bit as much as he did the British officers who declared him an official soldier in the 2nd Polish Corps,” said Batchelder Award Committee Chair Susan Stan. Soldier Bear is illustrated by Philip Hopman, translated by Laura Watkinson and published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
The Prix des Phares du Nord has been awarded in Paris to Bertrand Abraham for En route vers la fin, his French translation of Gerard Reve’s Op weg naar het einde (published by Phébus in 2010). The jury consisted of Danielle Bourgois, Anita Concas and Margot Dijkgraaf. The Prix des Phares du Nord is a bi-annual award for the best French translation of an important Dutch-language work.