for International Publishers
Amsterdam Fellowship
6-11 September 2013
Ten editors from leading foreign publishing firms pay a visit to Amsterdam within the framework of the 6th Amsterdam Fellowship for International Publishers so they can familiarise themselves with Dutch literature and the Dutch book trade.
During her stay ‘Fellow’ Alexis Washam, senior editor at Crown publishers and the Hogarth imprint (New York), who published the US edition of The Dinner by Herman Koch, writes an English blog on her experiences for the Dutch booktrade magazine and website, Boekblad.
The other nine Fellows are:
- Mr. Sherif Bakr – al Arabiyya, Cairo
- Mr. Laurenz Bolliger – Amazon Kindle, Berlin
- Ms. Emmanuelle Collas – Galaade Editions, Paris
- Mr. Alessandro Gallenzi – Alma, London
- Ms. Sif Jóhanssdóttir – Forlagid, Reykjavik
- Mr. Fabio Muzi Falconi – Feltrinelli, Milano
- Ms. Esra Öztemir – Doğan Kitap, Istanbul
- Ms. Hella Reese – dtv, München
- Mr. Alexandre Vasconcelos – Divina Comedia, Lisbon
Blogs by Alexis Washam:
- Arrival in Amsterdam, September 5 “wandering the streets and battling waves of jet lag while I await the arrival of the rest of my international colleagues. The program begins tomorrow, with a visit to the Dutch Foundation for Literature, and I am eager to discover what Jacqueline and Bas have in store for us there and beyond. Thus far, if only via email, they have been the perfect hosts! As for this afternoon, I am currently seated in The English Bookshop in the Jordaan (us publishing folk can only last so long in a foreign city before tracking down a bookstore) and I am most impressed by the store’s book club reviews of titles that line their shelves.”
- New perspectives on the booktrade, September 7 “What I love about these international events is that we all get the opportunity to understand the book business from new perspectives. For instance, we heard a great presentation from Gijs Schunselaar from the CNBP, where he explained how publishers, booksellers, librarians, and authors all come together to promote the ‘Book Week’ novel – a brand new work of fiction by a beloved writer which is given away for free! I had a brief vision of Americans doing the same thing, but I quickly understood that we would never be so civilized and – um – nice to each other. I especially enjoyed Victor Schiferli’s presentation about contemporary Dutch literature. In the US, translated fiction is not easy to publish, so I wasn’t sure how much knowledge I would be able to take home with me. But then he said something that really resonated with me – and something that I think makes instinctive sense to all publishers. As a member of the Dutch Foundation for Literature, he is often asked ‘why would people (from another country) want to read a Dutch book?’ And Victor’s reply is, ‘People aren’t looking to read a Dutch book. They want to read a good book.’ True.”
