Whit Monday
Offices closed
25 May 2023 - General
The offices of the Dutch Foundation for Literature are closed on Monday 29 May, due to Whit Monday.
25 May 2023 - General
The offices of the Dutch Foundation for Literature are closed on Monday 29 May, due to Whit Monday.
8 May 2023 - Awards
Dutch children’s book author Annet Huizing has won the Premio di Letteratura per Ragazzi ‘Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cento’ 2023, the prize for the best original or translated Italian children’s book. She received the prestigious ‘Premio Cento’ or ‘Cento Prize’ for Het Pungelhuis (The Burlap House), translated into Italian by Anna Patrucco Becchi as La casa del contrabbandiere (La Nuova Frontiera, 2022).
1 May 2023 - Grants awarded
The annual report of the Dutch Foundation for Literature gives an overview of all activities and grants in 2022, including temporary Covid-support for writers and translators as well as subsidies for all arts (on behalf of the six national cultural funds in the Netherlands) to support Ukrainian artists in the Netherlands and to improve both fair practice and inclusion in the Dutch cultural field.
24 April 2023 - International
In 2024, the Netherlands and Flanders will jointly host the Leipziger Buchmesse, the largest public book fair in Germany. One year in advance, during the Leipziger Buchmesse 2023, the Netherlands and Flanders will show a preview of what’s to come through a diverse selection of performances and activities.
14 April 2023 - General
Tiziano Perez has announced that he will leave as managing director of the Dutch Foundation for Literature at the end of 2023. By then he will have led the national culture foundation for ten years, having been involved with the organization in other roles before that. The Supervisory Board will begin the search for a successor.
7 March 2023
The complete collected work of Dutch historian Johan Huizinga has been published in German, in translation by Annette Wunschel. The seventh and final volume of the extensive Huizinga Schriften series was recently published by Brill | Fink. The translation project, initiated by Maarten Valken, was one of the longest-running supported translation projects of the Dutch Foundation for Literature: the first volume was published in 2011.
21 February 2023
On Tuesday 21 February an international program will be launched in Italy, that will put the spotlight on contemporary Dutch arts for children and youth for a year: FuturoPresente. A selection of Dutch theatre makers, writers, illustrators, choreographers and film makers present themselves to the Italian public and professionals. With the aim of strengthening the professional networks between the countries, entering into new partnerships and sharing experiences.
7 February 2023 - General and Press releases
Poet, performer and theater maker Max Greyson is writer in February, upon invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. During his stay, Greyson will be working on two projects: a new collection of poems and a musical theater piece.
2 February 2023
Two Dutch authors and their translators have been longlisted for the 28th edition of the Dublin Literary Prize, with € 100,000 the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English.
12 January 2023 - International and General
From Wednesday 18 to Friday 20 January, representatives from nine German publishers will come to Amsterdam to get acquainted with Dutch literature, writers and publishers. This program takes place in the context of the Leipziger Buchmesse 2024, the largest public book fair in Germany, which will be hosted by the Netherlands and Flanders.
13 October 2022 - Events
(left to right): Rodaan Al Galidi, Grand Hotel Europa, Hanna Bervoets
The New Dutch Writing campaign is delighted to welcome Dutch writers to the UK this Autumn with two key festival partnerships with Cheltenham Literature Festival and Off the Shelf Festival of Words, Sheffield. The exciting depth and breadth of the vibrant Dutch literary scene offers something for every reader in a programme of events featuring fabulous children’s books, insightful, timely nonfiction and brilliant contemporary fiction.
27 September 2022 - Awards
The Johannes Vermeer Award 2022 goes to Arnon Grunberg. The members of the jury, chaired by Andrée van Es, have unanimously nominated him. Grunberg will receive the prize for his exceptional contribution to Dutch arts. At literary level, he has an unmistakably large impact on his generation. The Dutch State Prize for the Arts will be awarded on Wednesday, November 16th, by Gunay Uslu, State Secretary for Culture and Media.
22 September 2022 - Press releases, Awards and Events
The 2022 European Literature Prize goes to the Nocilla trilogy by Spanish author Agustín Fernández Mallo in a Dutch translation by Adri Boon, published by Koppernik. The jury describes it as ‘a fantastic book that shows what literature can do: precisely by withstanding all the crumbling apart and splitting up, and by demonstrating how that which appears fragmentary stands alone, reverberates, suddenly makes contact and forms an amalgam that turns out to have unforeseen properties’. The prize will be presented to Agustín Fernández Mallo and Adri Boon on Saturday 5 November at the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague by jury chair Manon Uphoff.
14 September 2022
Starring in the ninth episode of Kopje Koffie, the German book podcast about Dutch literature: Dutch writer Jessica Durlacher talks in the Literary Society in Bielefeld with Katharina Borchardt about her book De stem (The Voice), published by De Arbeiderspers in 2021. In May of 2022, the book was published in German by Diogenes Verlag, under the title Die Stimme, translated by Annelie Bogener.
16 August 2022 - Press releases and General
The Support Fund for Ukrainian Artists is now open for applications. The Dutch cabinet earlier announced that a million euro would be set aside this year to give temporary support to artists who were forced to flee their country after the Russian attack on Ukraine and are living in the Netherlands. The Support Fund is intended for both individual artists and groups. Applications can be made through the Dutch Foundation for Literature, via this website.
10 August 2022 - International
Starring in the ninth episode of Kopje Koffie, the German book podcast about Dutch literature: Flemish writer Lize Spit talks to Katharina Borchardt and Bettina Baltschev about her book Ik ben er niet (I’m not there), published by Das Mag in 2020. In July of 2022, the book was published in German by S. Fischer, under the title Ich bin nicht da, translated by Helga van Beuningen.
1 August 2022
The Argentine author Ariel Magnus will be in Amsterdam as writer in residence in August, at the invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. During his stay, he is working on a new novel and doing research for another.
14 July 2022 - General and Authors
In Remco Campert (1929-2022) Dutch literature has lost one of its best-loved writers. He wrote poems, stories, novels, novellas and columns, and in 1976 was awarded the PC Hooft Prize for poetry, in 2011 the Gouden Ganzenveer and in 2015 the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (Dutch Literature Prize) for his oeuvre as a whole. In recognition of his major contribution to Dutch literature, Campert had been in receipt of an annual ‘honourgrant’ from the Dutch Foundation for Literature since 2004.
15 June 2022
Starring in the ninth episode of Kopje Koffie, the German book podcast about Dutch literature: Flemish writer Stefan Hertmans talks to Katharina Borchardt about his new book De Opgang (De Bezige Bij, 2020). In April of 2022, the book was published in German by Diogenes, under the title Der Aufgang, translated by Ira Wilhelm.
7 June 2022 - International and General
From Wednesday the 8th of June until Saturday June 11th, programme directors and presidents of over ten German literature festivals will visit The Netherlands, at the invitation of Flanders Literature and the Dutch Foundation for Literature. This Fellowship takes place in the context of the Leipziger Buchmesse 2024, which will be hosted by the Netherlands and Flanders. During these intensive days, the organisers will get a broad overview of literature from the Low Countries and the opportunity to meet over fifteen writers and illustrators; all of which have upcoming German translations of their work.
17 May 2022 - General
From September 2022 to February 2023, Michael Tedja will be writer in residence at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) in Amsterdam. At the invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the NIAS, Tedja will work here on his new novel, in which he investigates the history of his artistically creative family.
10 May 2022 - Translators, Awards and Press releases
The Dutch Foundation for Literature’s Translation Prize 2022 goes to Veronika ter Harmsel Havlíková. She will receive the sum of €15,000. The Foundation is giving her the prize in recognition of her outstanding translations of important Dutch titles into Czech, as well as her crucial role as adviser to new translators and as an intermediary on behalf of Dutch literature.
4 April 2022
Starring in the seventh episode of Kopje Koffie, the German book podcast about Dutch literature: writer and poet Gerda Blees. At the office of the Dutch Foundation for Literature in Amsterdam, Blees talks to Bettina Baltschev about the creation of her debut novel Wij zijn licht (Podium, 2020), which was awarded the Dutch Book Traders Prize and the European Union Prize for Literature. In January this year, the book was published in German by Zsolnay publishers, under the title Wir sind das Licht, in translation by Lisa Mensing.
24 March 2022 - General
Writer Tobi Lakmaker is interviewed in the sixth episode of Kopje Koffie, the German book podcast on literature from the Low Countries. With Bettina Baltschev he talks about his first novel De geschiedenis van mijn seksualiteit (Das Mag), which has recently been translated by Christina Brunnenkamp for Piper Verlag under the title Die Geschichte meiner Sexualität.
23 March 2022 - Press releases
In 2024, the Netherlands and Flanders will jointly host the Leipziger Buchmesse, the largest public book fair in Germany. This was announced at the last edition of the fair. The Dutch Foundation for Literature, Flanders Literature, the Dutch Embassy and the Representation of Flanders in Berlin are jointly organizing the upcoming host landscape, which will introduce new voices, new generations and new genres to Germany.
15 March 2022 - Grants awarded
The annual report of the Dutch Foundation for Literature gives an overview of all activities and grants in 2021, including temporary Covid-support for both writers and translators to and from Dutch as well as literary organizations within the Netherlands and publishers abroad.
15 March 2022 - General
The Dutch Foundation for Literature stands for free expression of speech and the peaceful exchange of ideas. Partly for this reason, we had the poem ‘Een krijgzuchtige tijd’ by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld translated into Ukrainian, Russian, German, French and English.
7 March 2022 - Press releases
On Monday 7 March, the Chinese poet Wang Jiaxin will arrive in the Netherlands as writer in residence. He will live and work in Amsterdam for a month, at the invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. He also performs in Leiden, Amsterdam and Ghent, and at several secondary schools.
10 February 2022 - Awards
The Vondel Translation Prize 2021 has been awarded to David Doherty for Summer Brother, his translation of Zomervacht by Jaap Robben. At an online ceremony by The Society of Authors, Doherty received the €5,000 prize money and praise from the jury.
1 February 2022
Hungarian researcher Krisztina Gracza is doing an internship at the Department International. As part of her dissertation, which she is preparing at ELTE University in Budapest, she is doing research into the Dutch Foundation for Literature’s Translation Database (www.vertalingendatabase.nl) for which Marlies Hoff (Library and Documentation) is responsible.
10 January 2022 - General
In the fifth episode of the German book podcast about Dutch literature, writer Marente de Moor takes a seat with Bettina Baltschev about the recent translation of her novel Foon. The book was published in the autumn of 2021 under the German title Phon by Hanser Literaturverlage, in a translation by Bettina Bach.
22 December 2021 - Awards
The poetry collection Island mountain glacier, the English translation of Anne Vegter’s Eiland berg gletsjer by Astrid Alben (Prototype Publishing, February 2022) has received one of the English PEN Translates Awards. It is remarkable that the translation already won prizes before it was published. The translation was made possible with a subsidy from the Dutch Foundation for Literature.
14 December 2021 - Awards
The P.C. Hooftprijs 2022 is awarded to writer Arnon Grunberg. The jury, chaired by Agnes Andeweg, states that Grunberg has made an ‘immense contribution to Dutch literature’. Grunberg will receive the oeuvre prize, with an amount of € 60,000, in mid-May 2022 in the Literature Museum in The Hague.
1 December 2021 - International and Awards
On Friday 19 November 2021, the German Gustav Heinemann Friedenspreis 2021 was awarded to writer Wilma Geldof and translator Verena Kiefer for the youth novel Reden ist Verrat, published by Gerstenberg Verlag (original title Het meisje met de vlechtjes, published by Luitingh-Sijthoff in 2018). In the Heinrich Heine Haus in Düsseldorf, the ladies received the cash prize of € 7.500. The book Het meisje met de vlechtjes was produced with a project subsidy from the Dutch Foundation for Literature, and the translation Reden ist Verrat was also supported by the foundation.
1 December 2021 - Press releases
The Belarusian writer Sasja Filipenko will be writer in residence for two months, upon invitation by the Dutch Foundation for Literature. During his stay in Amsterdam, Filipenko will finish his sixth novel and work on a play.
24 November 2021 - International and General
After Arnon Grünberg, Judith Fanto and Charlotte Van den Broeck, Herman Koch is a guest in Kopje Koffie, the German book podcast about Dutch and Flemish literature. Koch will discuss the German translation of his book Finse dagen (Finnische Tage, published by KiWi, translated by Christiane Kuby and Herbert Post) with Bettina Baltschev.
17 November 2021 - Awards
Five translations have been nominated for the Vondel Translation Prize 2021. This biennial prize of the Dutch Foundation for Literature awards the best English-language translation of a Dutch-language literary or cultural-historical work with a cash prize of €5,000. The winner will be announced during the online award ceremony on Thursday 10 February 2022, organized by the British The Society of Authors.
15 November 2021 - Awards, Events and International
From mid-November to mid-December, under the heading Ton monde, plein de merveilles, a presentation of Dutch culture for children and young people will take place in Montreuil, a suburb of Paris where France’s most important children’s book fair is held every year. Ton monde, plein de merveilles is a multidisciplinary collaboration between Dutch cultural foundations and other institutions that support the sector, along with French partners and the Dutch embassy in Paris.
2 November 2021 - Awards
Last Sunday, October 31th, Sandra Langereis received the Libris Geschiedenis Prijs for her book Erasmus: dwarsdenker (English title: Erasmus The Maverick - A Biography). The Libris Geschiedenis Prijs rewards historical books that appeal to a general audience. Langereis’ portrait of Erasmus came about with a biography grant from the Dutch Foundation for Literature, and is featured in the Dutch Non-Fiction - Spring 2021 brochure.
1 November 2021 - Awards
Aimée de Jongh received the Prix Ouest France 2021 at the Quai des Bulles comics festival last saturday, October 30th, for her graphic novel Days of sand (Original title: Dagen van zand, French title: Jours de sable, French translation by Jérôme Wicky for publisher Dargaud). Created by Ouest France, one of the largest newspapers in France, the prize recognizes the best comic book of the past year. De Jongh is the first woman to receive the award.
17 October 2021 - International and Awards
This Friday afternoon, October 22, the winners of the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2021 will be announced at the Frankfurter Buchmesse. An exciting moment for Dutch children’s literature, since three originally Dutch books have been nominated for this prestigious German award: Vosje (Little Fox) by Edward van de Vendel, illustrator Marije Tolman and translator Rolf Erdorf, Haaientanden (Shark Teeth) by Anna Woltz and translator Andrea Kluitmann, and Het meisje met de vlechtjes (The Girl with the Braids) by Wilma Geldof and translator Verena Kiefer.
27 September 2021 - Translators, Awards and International
Dutch translations into English are currently experiencing a great boom, so much so that English translations from the Dutch are becoming as important as German translations, traditionally the main export market for Dutch literature. The jury of the Vondel Translation Prize, consisting of previous winner Michele Hutchison, poet Jane Draycott and translator Susan Massotty, were able to consider a wide range of translations published in 2019 and 2020, from works across many different genres.
29 June 2021 - Press releases, Translators, Awards and Authors
Jury chair Manon Uphoff has announced the shortlist for the European Literature Prize 2021. Five titles have been selected, all of them contemporary European novels in Dutch translation. The prize is being presented this year for the eleventh time; it goes to both the author and the translator.
3 June 2021 - Press releases, Translators and Awards
The James Brockway Prize – an oeuvre prize for translators of Dutch-language poetry – has been awarded to David Colmer. This distinction, established and organised by the Dutch Foundation for Literature, is valued at 5,000 euros and will be presented (online) at the upcoming edition of the Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam, on Saturday 12 June at 3.15 p.m. (BST).
26 May 2021 - Events and International
The Dutch Foundation for Literature, Flanders Literature, the Dutch Embassy in Berlin and the Diplomatic Representation of Flanders are launching the new podcast Kopje Koffie (Cup of Coffee) for the German readers and audience.
19 May 2021 - Awards, International and Authors
Gerda Blees has been awarded the European Union Prize for Literature for Wij zijn licht (Podium publishers). The jury unanimously picked her novel as the Dutch winner of 2021. Through 25 narrators, Blees offers a new perspective in each chapter and thus describes the members of a commune who stop eating because they want to live on light and air. The novel was previously selected as Best Book of the Year by Dutch bookstores and shortlisted for the Libris Literatuur Prize 2021.
19 May 2021
Dutch author Tommy Wieringa will be writer-in-residence at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) in Amsterdam from September 2021 to February 2022. In February he will be succeeded by the Brazilian poet Ricardo Domeneck. Both authors have been invited by the Dutch Foundation for Literature and NIAS.
15 April 2021 - Awards, International and Authors
Gerda Blees, Jente Posthuma and Raoul de Jong are nominated for the European Union Prize for Literature. The Netherlands is one of the 14 participating counties in the EUPL 2021. The EUPL awards one winner per country.
29 March 2021 - Translators, Awards and International
Literary translator Helga van Beuningen has been awarded the Straelen Übersetzerpreis 2021. The prize crowns her translation of De avond in ongemak (The Discomfort of Evening) into German, as well as her life’s work as a translator in general.
28 March 2021 - Translators and General
Literary translators from Dutch into English are invited to sign up for the BCLT Literary Translation Summer School. The Dutch Foundation for Literature provides six full bursaries for (starting) translators. The BCLT Summer School will be held online, from 19 to 24 July 2021, and will focus on poetry. Please register before Monday, April 12.
25 March 2021 - Awards, International and Authors
Four Dutch children’s books are nominated for the prestigious Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2021. The jury selected 24 books in four categories from 667 submitted new publications, either written in or translated into German. The prize announcement and award ceremony will take place on Friday 22 October, during the Frankfurt Book Fair. Writer, translator and illustrator share the award.
24 March 2021 - Grants awarded and General
The annual report of the Dutch Foundation for Literature gives an overview of all activities and grants in 2020, including temporary support in this Covid-19 year.
8 March 2021 - International and General
Children’s book author Paul van Loon has received no fewer than three Golden Books at once, a unique event in Dutch literature. A book is given the Golden status if more than 75,000 copies are sold. Van Loon has reached that target with three titles: Dolfje Weerwolfje , SuperDolfje and Weerwolfnachtbaan.
17 February 2021 - International and Authors
Selma van de Perre-Velleman received a Royal distinction at a festive, digital award ceremony. Dutch Ambassador to the UK, Karel van Oosterom, presented the award. Selma van de Perre, who now lives in London, was a member of the Dutch Resistance in World War Two. She is one of the few survivors of the Ravensbrück concentration camp who are still alive today and has spent the last few decades tirelessly informing younger generations about the horrors of the War.
10 February 2021 - Authors
The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS) and the Dutch Foundation for Literature invite applicants for the position of writer in residence. The position is tenable at NIAS in Amsterdam from 1 February 2022 until 31 June 2022.
8 February 2021 - Translators, Awards, International and Authors
Two Dutch and one Flemish author and their translators have been longlisted for the Dublin Literary Prize 2021. The longlist is nominated by libraries around the world making it a great spotlight for international writing. The first Dutch winner of this prestigious award were in 2010 Gerbrand Bakker and translator David Colmer for The Twin, which has been translated into 25 languages.
27 January 2021 - International
In 2019 and 2020, the Never Grow Up! programme presented Dutch film, literature, (music) theatre and dance for young audiences throughout the US. Remarkable work from the Netherlands wowed and delighted both children and their families, and presenters and agencies at renowned events and venues including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, the Chicago and New York International Children’s Film Festivals, the Bay Area and Brooklyn Book Festivals.
25 January 2021 - Authors
Lieke Marsman has been appointed as the new Poet Laureate of the Netherlands. The next two years she will write poems on the occasion of national events and act as poetry ambassador. She is the youngest Dutch Poet Laureate to date.
15 January 2021
Almost all publishers agree that they miss the contact they used to have with their international colleagues, chatting with like-minded people, exchanging tips about interesting titles and authors, and having conversations about what is going on in the book trade and beyond.
16 December 2020 - Awards, General and Authors
Alfred Schaffer (b. 1973) has been awarded the P.C. Hooft Prize, one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the Netherlands. He is the first laureate of this poetry oeuvre award to have debuted in the 21st century. This year his twelfth volume of poetry, Wie was ik, strafregels was published at The Busy Bee. So far, his work has been translated into Afrikaans, English, French, German, Macedonian, Turkish, Indonesian and Swedish.
1 October 2020 - Awards and Authors
The 2020 Golden Slate Pencil for the writer of the best Dutch children’s book of the year has been awarded to Bette Westera for her book Uit elkaar (Breaking Up, Gottmer Publishers), illustrated by Sylvia Weve. The Golden Paintbrush 2020, the most important Dutch prize for an illustrator of children’s and young adult literature, goes to Yvonne Jagtenberg for Hup Herman! (Gottmer Publishers). These prestigious prizes were presented on national television at the launch of the Dutch Children’s Book Week.
30 September 2020 - Press releases, Translators and Awards
The Dutch Foundation for Literature’s Translation Prize 2020 goes to Ran HaCohen. He will receive the sum of € 15,000. The Foundation is awarding him the prize in recognition of his excellent translations of both classic and contemporary fiction into Hebrew, and his important role as an intermediary on behalf of Dutch literature in Israel. One result of his efforts has been the publication of a Hebrew edition of Max Havelaar by Multatuli.
22 September 2020 - Press releases, Events, International and Authors
The Dutch contemporary writing scene is experiencing an exciting discovery moment for UK readers. Marieke Lucas Rijneveld was announced as the first Dutch International Booker Prize winner on 26th August 2020 and the work of historian Rutger Bregman is hugely popular, along with others from the increasingly influential The Correspondent. Now Verzet offers readers the opportunity to delve deeper into works by young, diverse, emerging Dutch writers translated into English for the very first time.
28 August 2020 - Awards, International, Authors and Translators
For the first time ever, a Dutch novel has been awared the International Booker Prize. The Discomfort of Evening (Faber & Faber) by author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and translator Michele Hutchison has won this prestigious award. Rijneveld is not only the first Dutch author to be awarded this honour but also the first debut novelist and the youngest author ever to receive the International Booker Prize. The foreign rights to their novel have been sold to 21 countries, so far.
14 August 2020 - Translators and Grants awarded
To help translators find new assignments in these uncertain times, the Dutch Foundation for Literature has subsidized a number of 3,000-word translations of Dutch literary titles. A grand total of 176 proposals have been approved (84 fiction, 43 non-fiction, 28 children’s and youth, 20 poetry and 1 graphic novel) for translation into 32 languages. The translators will endeavour to find publishers for the books in question, in consultation with the foundation and the rights holders. The publication of new translations is thus stimulated, and the translators can continue their good work.
7 August 2020 - International and Authors
I giusti, Claudia Cozzi’s Italian translation of De rechtvaardigen for Iperborea has been awarded the Premio Tribùk dei Librai. This book trade prize, whose jury comprises 105 booksellers, is aimed to emphasize the important role bookshops play as cultural mediators.
23 July 2020 - Awards and International
Dutch poet, essayist, novelist, travel writer and art critic Cees Nooteboom has received the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and the Arts, 1st Class. Ambassador dr. Heidemaria Gürer stated that she was proud to present this high decoration to ‘Der ganz Große Cees Nooteboom’.
17 July 2020 - Translators
Leiden University Press is bringing out a new, unabridged, lavishly-illustrated edition of Huizinga’s study of life and thought in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in France and the Low Countries. We asked Diane Webb about her experience of translating this famous work.
3 July 2020 - Translators
By Mireille Berman
Every year the National Committee for 4 and 5 May asks a writer to give a speech at its Remembrance Day gathering. This year it chose Arnon Grunberg, who read an impressive essay entitled ‘No’.
23 June 2020 - Awards
Sander Kollaard has won the prestigious Libris Literature Prize 2020 for his novel A Dog’s Day (Uit het leven van een hond, Van Oorschot). The prize is awarded annually to the best Dutch literary fiction title of the previous year, and consists of 50,000 euros and a bronze medal. The winner was announced in a live broadcast of Nieuwsuur.
11 June 2020 - Authors and Press releases
Author Stephan Sanders has been invited by the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study and the Dutch Foundation for Literature to be a fellow as the Guest of the Director. Sanders will write a book on the increasing dichotomy between ‘white’ and ‘black’ in politics and public debate.
3 June 2020 - International and Authors
Humankind: A Hopeful History, the English translation of historian Rutger Bregman’s bestseller De meeste mensen deugen, has been published by Bloomsbury in the UK to rave reviews. The book was hailed as the new Sapiens; the first reprint followed within a week. Online events with Bregman sold out immediately. The English translation (by Elizabeth Manton and Erica Moore) will be released in the US today by Little Brown.
27 May 2020 - Press releases and Authors
From September 2020, Dutch biographer Aleid Truijens will be writer-in-residence at NIAS for a period of 5 months, followed by Ugandan-British author Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi in February 2021. The writer-in-residence fellowship in the international and academic environment of NIAS is part of a cooperation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature with NIAS.
12 May 2020 - Translators, International, Authors and General
In this uncertain time in which authors, illustrators, translators and publishers face major challenges, the Dutch Foundation for Literature is aiming to give as much support as possible to our partners.
6 May 2020 - Events and International
As part of Meet The World, New Dutch Writing is teaming up with The National Centre for Writing for a series of conversations between writers and their translators. We can’t travel and meet in person right now but we can introduce you to the Dutch and Flemish authors and translators of some the most exciting new books of 2020.
1 May 2020 - International and Awards
Cees Nooteboom has been awarded the Formentor Literature Prize 2020, the most prestigious annual Spanish literature prize for an international author, worth 50.000 euro. The jury praised Nooteboom as a poet, novelist, essayist and critic of art who “has exceeded with his incessant creativity the limit proposed by literary genres”.
24 April 2020 - Translators, Awards and International
Irina Leek-Trofimova has been shortlisted for the Мастер-award. She is nominated for her Russina two translations of two children’s books by Toon Tellegen, Is er dan niemand boos (The day no one was angry) and Brieven aan niemand anders (Letters to anyone and everyone).
2 April 2020 - Awards, General and International
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and Michele Hutchison have just won a first ever Dutch shortlist nomination for the International Booker Prize with The Discomfort of Evening (Faber & Faber). The jury announced the six nominated titles online. The International Booker is awarded annually for a single book, translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. The vital work of translators is celebrated, with the prize money (£ 50.000) divided equally between the author and translator. The winner of the 2020 prize will be announced on 19 May.
28 March 2020 - General
The COVID-19 epidemic and the measures required to contain it are having a major impact on the cultural sector and the book industry in Europe and elsewhere. Where possible, the Dutch Foundation for Literature is of course willing to give extra leeway to applicants - and thus help reduce uncertainties. An update.
19 March 2020 - Translators and Awards
Lampie by Annet Schaap and translator Laura Watkinson has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. It is the first time ever that a translation has been shortlisted for this prestigious prize for children’s literature.
18 March 2020 - International, Authors and General
The Letter for the King, a new Netflix Original series based on the Dutch children’s classic by Tonke Dragt, will be released on March 20. It is the first time a Dutch novel is adapted by Netflix.
13 March 2020 - Awards and International
The youth novel Ich bin Vincent und ich habe keine Angst by Dutch author Enne Koens, German translator Andrea Kluitmann and illustrator Maartje Kuiper is nominated for the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2020. The jury selected this title and the other nominations out of 647 new German children’s books. Prize winners will be announced at the award ceremony during the Frankfurter Buchmesse this fall.
27 February 2020 - Awards, International and Authors
The longlist of UK’s International Booker Prize 2020 is announced. Among the 13 nominated titles is The Discomfort of Evening by Dutch author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and translator Michele Hutchison. The novel will be published by Faber & Faber on March the 19th. The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for a single book translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. The contribution of both author and translator is given equal recognition, with the £50,000 prize split between them.
27 February 2020 - International and General
On 5 and 6 March, a group of British journalists will visit Amsterdam upon invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. This will give them an opportunity to become familiair with the Dutch book market and Dutch authors in the context of the New Dutch Writing campaign and the ‘Boekenweek’, the Dutch national week of books and literature.
26 February 2020 - Awards, International and Authors
Lampie and the Children of the Sea by Annet Schaap and translated by Laura Watkinson for Pushkin Press, is nominated for the Carnegie Medal. It is the first time ever that a translation has been longlisted for this prestigious prize for children’s literature. Little Wise Wolf by Hanneke Siemensma and Gijs van der Hammen won a nomination for the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustrators.
24 February 2020 - Grants awarded and General
All in 2019 awarded Translation Grants (and other grants) can be found in the annual report of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. Download the annual report (pdf; Dutch) here.
19 February 2020 - General
After more than 23 years at the Dutch Foundation for Literature, Bas Pauw’s carreer takes a new turn. From March onwards, he is seconded to the Performing Arts Fund NL in The Hague. Most of his duties at the Foundation for Literature will be taken over by Lucette Châtelain. In January, Juul Klein Wolterink has joined the communications team of the Foundation for Literature.
12 February 2020 - Translators, Awards and International
After careful consideration, a specialist jury has awarded the Vondel Translation Prize 2019 to Michele Hutchison for Stage Four, her English translation of Sander Kollaard’s Stadium IV (Van Oorschot), published by the American publishing house Amazon Crossing. The prize will be presented in London on 12 February, 2020.
10 February 2020 - International and Authors
In cooperation with Poetry International the Dutch Foundation for Literature introduces two new voices in Dutch poetry: Simone Atangana Bekono and Maartje Smits. Bekono writes sweeping epistolary poems, in which she explores the relationship between body and identity. Smits’ poetry is musical, playful, feminist and innovative.
7 February 2020 - General
From Wednesday 12 until Friday 14 February, the Dutch Foundation for Literature has invited 12 German programmers of literary festivals and literary houses to participate in a fellowship. During their stay in Amsterdam, the fellows will meet their Dutch counterparts and get information on the state-of-the-art of Dutch literature.
6 February 2020 - Awards and International
The PEN America Literary Awards Finalists have been announced. Among them Dutch non-fiction author Frans de Waal and biographer Benjamin Moser.
24 January 2020 - Awards and Authors
Mischa Andriessen wins the annual Awater Poetry Prize. A jury consisting of 27 Dutch and Flemish critics, journalists, and other poetry specialists, chose his Winterlaken [Winter Sheet] as the best poetry collection of 2019.
18 January 2020 - General and Authors
The Dutch Foundation for Literature and NIAS-KNAW invite publishers and others to nominate a writer for the writer-in-residence fellowship at NIAS-KNAW in Amsterdam for the academic year 2020/21. This prestigious position is intended for a writer who is working on a project that would benefit from an extended stay as part of a diverse community of international scholars. Nominations can be submitted before 16 March (noon).
17 January 2020 - Awards, Authors and General
Novelist, essayist and philosopher Maxim Februari has been awarded two prestigious Dutch literary prizes, the P.C. Hooft Prize and the C.C.S. Crone Prize. Both are awarded for Februari’s complete works, and the juries of both prizes praise the exceptional quality of his oeuvre. His work has been translated into English, Danish, Spanish and Turkish.
1 December 2019 - Translators, Awards and General
Four translators have been nominated for the Vondel Translation Prize 2020. This biennial prize from the Dutch Foundation for Literature awards the best English-language translation of a Dutch-language literary or cultural-historical work with a prize of € 5,000. The award ceremony will take place on 12 February in London.
25 November 2019 - Awards
Once a year, during a large-scale literary festival in Shenzhen, China, the ten best children’s books of the year are chosen. Last Saturday it was announced that The Mystery of Life. How Nothing Became Everything (Shanghai 99) by Jan Paul Schutten and Floor Rieder is one of the lucky winners of the “Top Ten Children’s Books of the Year 2019”.
23 November 2019 - International and General
In The New York Review of Books (December 5, 2019), Dutch author Philip Huff discusses two recently translated works by famous Dutch writer Gerard Reve: his classics The Evenings: A Winter’s Tale, and Childhood: Two Novellas. Both books have been translated by Sam Garrett for Pushkin Press.
7 October 2019 - Press releases, International and General
Under the title ‘New Dutch Writing’, Dutch literature will be presented at more than seventy festivals and events in the United Kingdom and Ireland from October onwards. By means of this major promotional campaign, the Dutch Foundation for Literature aims to introduce new generations of Dutch authors to an English-language readership. The campaign will also draw attention to literary translation.
30 August 2019 - Authors and Press releases
Dutch poet and novelist Hagar Peeters will stay at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) in Amsterdam as writer in residence for one semester. The residency is a fellowship organised by the Dutch Foudantion for Literature together with NIAS-KNAW. During her stay, from 1 September, 2019 to 1 February, 2020, she will continue her inquiry into the relationship between writing and single motherhood.
22 August 2019 - Awards, International and Authors
Dutch poet, novelist and travel writer Cees Nooteboom will be granted a honorary doctorate at the University College London. The ceremony will take place at Tuesday 3 September 2019 at UCL in London. Nooteboom already holds honorary doctorates from universities in Brussels, Nijmegen and Berlin.
20 July 2019 - Translators and Awards
The Christoph Martin Wieland Translation Prize, worth € 12,000, will be presented to Eva Schweikart this autumn for her German translation of Lampje, a novel by Annet Schaap that has been published in German by Thienemann Verlag under the title Emilia und der Junge aus dem Meer. It is the first time that the biennial prize, presented since 1979 for works in a wide range of genres, has gone to the translator of a children’s book.
10 July 2019 - Awards and Authors
The three-yearly Anna Blaman Prize has been awarded to Edward van de Vendel, author of novels and poems for children and young adults. ‘To write so convincingly, movingly and thoughtfully, and yet make it look as though you just happen to have tossed something off, is the sort of thing only a literary heavyweight can do,’ the jury concluded. Van de Vendel receives a goblet and the sum of € 10,000.
8 July 2019 - Awards and Authors
Two young Dutch authors have been awarded the ANV Debutantenprijs, a prize for the best debut novel in the last year. Mirthe van Doornik was named winner by the readers jury with her novel Other People’s Mothers, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld was awarded by the professional jury with her novel The Discomfort of the Evening.
3 July 2019 - Press releases, Events, International and General
On the evening of Wednesday 3rd July 2019 Dutch and British representatives from the world of books and translation will gather to celebrate the launch of New Dutch Writing at The Union Club in Soho.
1 July 2019 - Press releases, Authors and General
This summer, Polish journalist and writer Kamil Bałuk will live and work as a writer in residence in our residency in Amsterdam. His first book All Louis’ Children about the case of the much-discussed fertility doctor Jan Karbaat was published last year in Dutch translation. During his residency period, Bałuk will make a series of reports about the contemporary Netherlands.
18 June 2019 - Translators, Awards and General
The shortlist for the European Literature Prize 2019 has been announced. Out of a longlist of twenty translated titles the jury has selected five from which the winner will be chosen. The prize will be presented 3 November 2019, during the Crossing Border festival in The Hague.
17 June 2019 - Awards, General and Authors
First Paris then the Grand Poetry Prize. Radna Fabias has been awarded the Netherlands’ Grand Poetry Prize 2019 at the 50th Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam, for Habitus (De Arbeiderspers). Her first collection made an impressive debut in Dutch-language poetry. It not only received exclusively laudatory reviews, but has now won all four major Dutch poetry awards, including the C. Buddingh’ Prize, the Awater Poetry Prize and the Herman De Coninck Prize 2019.
13 June 2019 - International and General
As part of a special cultural cooperation between Amsterdam and Paris, the Dutch Foundation for Literature makes a donation of children’s and youth literature books to the Médiathèque Françoise Sagan in Paris. Thanks to fifteen publishers, a gift of no fewer than 92 books has been compiled, of which 72 are Dutch-language and 20 are French translations of Dutch children’s books.
4 June 2019 - Press releases and International
This year, the Netherlands is guest of honour at the Marché de la Poésie in Paris, the largest poetry festival in France. The festival takes place every year at Place Saint-Sulpice in the heart of Paris. A dozen poets will be included in the “official delegation” of the festival, they will read from their work at the main stage and will be interviewed during the festival.
18 May 2019
On 24 and 25 May Luan Buleshkaj, Gershwin Bonevacia, Babs Gons, Cees De Beer, Onias Landveld and Naomi Veldwijk will participate in the first edition of Wintertuin Curaçao Festival, an inclusive, multilingual storytelling and literature festival for all ages.
14 May 2019 - International
Café Amsterdam brings three evenings full of Dutch literature, debate, art and music to Paris. From 14 to 16 May, Maison de la Poésie, the most important literary stage in Paris, is transformed into an Amsterdam brown pub. Dutch fiction and non-fiction authors Jan Brokken, Adriaan van Dis, Anna Enquist, Lieve Joris, Herman Koch, Eva Meijer, Hagar Peeters, Frank Westerman, Tommy Wieringa will read from their work and talk to French authors and journalists.
7 May 2019 - Awards and Authors
Rob van Essen has won the prestigious Libris Literature Prize 2019 for his novel The Good Son (Atlas Contact). The prize is awarded annually to the best Dutch literary fiction title of the previous year, and consists of 50,000 euros and a bronze medal. The award ceremony was traditionally broadcast live in Nieuwsuur.
2 May 2019 - Press releases, Events and General
Canadian author Rosemary Sullivan will be living and working in Amsterdam from 2 to 31 May, upon invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. She will be working on a book with the provisional title A Cold Case Diary, which is due to appear in 19 countries in the summer of 2020; in the Netherlands the book will be published by Ambo | Anthos.
30 April 2019 - International
From 2 to 7 May illustrator and children’s book author Mylo Freeman and children’s and youth literature author Benny Lindelauf will be in Berkeley, US to give several readings and performances at the annual Bay Area Book Festival. They will each present two panel sessions with fellow writers at the festival, Mylo Freeman will have an additional solo presentation in the Story Time Circle.
2 April 2019 - Awards and General
Flemish author Bart Moeyaert is the laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2019, the ‘Nobel Prize for youth literature’. The award, which amounts to 5 million Swedish Kronor (€ 480,000) is given annually by the Swedish Arts Council. Moeyaert was nominated for the sixteenth time this year, and finally received the prestigious prize at the Bologna’s Children’s Book Fair.
1 April 2019 - Awards
Mathijs Deen was awarded the Halewijn Prize on the final evening of the national Book Week. The prize is awarded annually by the city of Roermond to a literary talent that deserves more attention, and consists of a sum of € 1500 and a bronze statue.
29 March 2019
The third annual ESLT Summer School will bring together around 20 translators and educators from across Europe who are passionate about teaching literary translation. The three-day programme will include a mixture of seminars, workshops and panel discussions. Applications should be submitted by 15 April 2019.
22 March 2019 - Awards
On 21 March, World Poetry Day, Radna Fabias was awarded the Herman de Coninckprijs for her debut collection Habitus. The Flemish prize is awarded annually to the best Dutch language poetry collection and consists of € 7.500.
21 March 2019 - Press releases, Events and General
British writer Kate Mosse (1961) will be living and working in Amsterdam from 3 to 22 April, at the invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. She will be working on a historical novel set in 16th-century Amsterdam, the second part in a series of four about the French religious wars and the Diaspora of the Huguenots. During her stay she will give several public performances.
20 March 2019 - Press releases, International and General
From 21 to 24 March, seven Dutch illustrators and authors of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books will visit Germany. Dutch literature will be presented in ten events at the Leipziger Buchmesse and the corresponding Leipzig Liest reading festival.
19 March 2019 - Authors
The Dutch Foundation for Literature and NIAS-KNAW invite publishers and others to nominate a writer for the witer-in-residence fellowship at NIAS-KNAW in Amsterdam for the academic year 2019/20. This prestigious position is intended for a writer who is working on a project that would benefit from an extended stay as part of a diverse community of international scholars. Nominations can be submitted until 1 May.
14 March 2019 - Press releases and International
From 15 to 19 March, Livre Paris will take place, France’s largest book fair. Together with the Dutch embassy in Paris, the Foundation for Literature has a stand of 16.5 m2 at the guest country pavilion ‘Le Pavillon d’Europe’, entirely dedicated to digital literature.
13 March 2019 - Awards and International
Tommy Wieringa is one of the ‘Man Booker Dozen’ – the longlist of thirteen novels that are in contention for the Man Booker International Prize 2019 – with his novel The Death of Murat Idrissi, translated by Sam Garrett (Scribe). The Man Booker International Prize celebrates the best works of translated fiction from around the world and consists of £50,000, to be split equally between the author and the translator.
11 March 2019 - International and General
From 11-14 March Barbara den Ouden, Victor Schiferli, Mireille Berman, Agnes Vogt, Bas Pauw and Alexandra Koch will represent the Dutch Foundation for Literature at the London Book Fair (table 34V at the International Rights Center). They will have meetings with approximately 125 international publishers and editors to promote Dutch literature.
21 January 2019 - General and Press releases
South African poet and author Antjie Krog will be living and working in Amsterdam from 21 January to 20 February, at the invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. As well as being a writer worthy of the Nobel Prize for literature, Krog is a consummate literary performer. During her stay she will give a series of performances in the Netherlands and Belgium, including appearances during Poetry Week.
21 January 2019
Ten English language publishers of children’s and youth literature from five different countries (US, UK, Australia, New Zealand & Canada) will visit Amsterdam, upon invitation by the Dutch Foundation for Literature. From 21 to 23 January they will be introduced to the Dutch field of children’s books, meeting many publishers, writers and illustrators. The Amsterdam Fellowship is an annual programme in which the Foundation invites international literary editors to come and meet their Dutch colleagues and familiarise themselves with Dutch literature.
18 January 2019 - General
Tsead Bruinja has been appointed as the new Poet Laureate of the Netherlands for a period of two years. Bruinja is the seventh Poet Laureate of the Netherlands, appointed by a commission of experts and prominent writers. The next two years he will write poems on the occasion of national events and act as poetry ambassador.
9 January 2019
From January until July 2019, Syrian poet Ghayath Almadhoun (Damascus, 1979) will stay at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) in Amsterdam as writer in residence. During his stay he will be working on his fifth book of poetry in Arabic, an extensive text of life, love in the wartime, memories that became home, and the exile as background of the new wave of literature.
8 January 2019 - Awards
The Stripschap Prize 2019, the annual Dutch oeuvre award for cartoonists, has been awarded to Amsterdam cartoonist and illustrator Typex. Ever since the appearance of his overwhelming biography of Andy Warhol, eyes have been constantly focused on the Amsterdam comic strip maker and illustrator. Andy: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol has been published in six languages and fourteen countries and was praised all over the world.
31 December 2018 - General and Grants awarded
All in 2018 awarded Translation Grants (and other grants) can be found in the annual report of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. An overview of translations of Dutch and Frisian literature worldwide, both published and in preparation, both subsidized by our Foundation and not, may be found in our Translations Database.
19 December 2018 - International and General
Throughout 2019, Never Grow Up! Dutch film, literature and performing arts for young audiences presents an abundance of Dutch artistry in the United States. A wide range of work from the Netherlands for young audiences and families will be presented and shared at festivals, conferences and other platforms, all representing a respect for young people and dedication to youth culture as an autonomous art form.
11 December 2018 - Awards, General and Authors
Marga Minco (b. 1920) has been awarded the P.C. Hooft Prize 2019, one of the most prestigious Dutch literary awards, for her prose. The jury praised her as the author of a modest and intensely powerful body of work. ‘Without psychologizing, without resorting to pathos or pretention, she enables us to understand and fully engage with an inconceivable reality.’
22 November 2018 - Press releases, International, Authors and General
This autumn the Les Phares du Nord campaign is taking twenty-one Dutch and Flemish authors to five French cities. A great deal of attention is also being paid to Dutch-language children’s and young adult literature, a much sought-after export product. From 28 November to 3 December, the Netherlands and Flanders are the ‘focus country’ at the Salon du Livre et de la Presse Jeunesse in Montreuil, France’s biggest and most important children’s book fair.
27 November 2018 - Awards, International and Authors
Cees Nooteboom has been awarded the Horst Bienek Prize for his entire poetic oeuvre, the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste announced Tuesday afternoon. The Akademie praises 85-year-old Nooteboom as one of the most renowned European writers.
14 November 2018 - General, Authors, International and Press releases
In November, nine Dutch and Flemish authors will perform during the Stuttgarter Buchwochen and the Karlsruher Bücherschau. Their performances are part of the campaign organised in Germany in 2017-2018, as a follow-up to the successful Flemish-Dutch Guest of Honour programme at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016. With these two, almost simultaneous festivals in Stuttgart and Karlsrühe, the ‘This is what we share’ campaign in Germany comes to an end.
20 November 2018 - Events and International
Eight international poetry publishers and editors will visit Amsterdam and Antwerp, upon invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature and Flanders Literature. From 3-7 December they will be introduced to the Dutch field of poetry, meeting many publishers and writers.
19 November 2018 - Awards and Authors
The Estonian translation by Kerti Tergem of Vote for the Okapi (published by Päike ja Pilv), an illustrated children’s book by Edward van de Vendel and Martijn van der Linden, has won the Tower of Babel Honour Diploma. The Tower of Babel Honour Diploma is awarded annually to an outstanding foreign book published in another country by a living children’s book author that is translated into Estonian and published in Estonia. Previously Vote for the Okapi has won the Woutertje Pieterse Prijs 2016 (best Dutch children’s book of the year), Zilveren Griffel 2016 (best informative children’s book) and an honorary mention for the illustrations.
8 November 2018 - Awards and Authors
Tommy Wieringa has won the BookSpot Literature Prize 2018 for his novel Santa Rita (translated into English by Sam Garrett). The prize is one of the biggest Dutch literature prizes, and consists of €50.000. In addition to the jury prize, he also has won the reader’s prize, consisting of €10.000.
6 November 2018 - International and General
Ten non-fiction publishers from the UK and USA will visit Amsterdam, upon invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. From 12-14 November they will be introduced to the Dutch field of non-fiction writing, meeting many publishers and writers. The Amsterdam Fellowship is an annual programme in which the Foundation invites international literary editors to come and meet their Dutch colleagues and familiarise themselves with Dutch literature.
30 October 2018 - Awards, International and Authors
Dutch poet Gerry van der Linden has received the literary prize of the International Poetry Festival Ditët e Naimit. The 22nd edition of this Macedonian festival hosted twentyfive poets from across the globe. At the opening of the festival Van der Linden received the ‘Ditët e Naimit’ award, given for one’s literary career and poetry oeuvre, from festival director Shaip Emërllahu.
26 October 2018 - Awards and Authors
Pieter Waterdrinker has won the Tzum prize for the best sentence from a book published in 2017. Waterdrinker wins a trophy and 95 euros, as many euros as words in the sentence, for a sentence published in his novel Tsjaikovskistraat 40. The English translation rights were sold to Scribe this summer. The Long Song of Tchaikovsky Street: a century of revolution in St Petersburg will be published in 2020 in England, Australia and New Zealand.
19 October 2018
The Netherlands is known as an international front runner in the creation of arts and culture specifically for children. Children’s Books by Annie M.G. Schmidt, Tonke Dragt and Dick Bruna for instance have been and continue to be translated worldwide. Apps like A Distant Journey, based on work by Toon Tellegen, and Puzzling Poetry received international critical acclaim.
2 October 2018 - Press releases and Authors
Flemish author Jeroen Olyslaegers will be living and working as a writer-in-residence in Amsterdam from 2 October to 30 November, upon invitation by the Dutch Foundation for Literature. During his residency in Amsterdam, Jeroen Olyslaegers will work on a new historical novel and give a series of public lectures and interviews.
28 September 2018
This month a bilingual collection of Frisian literature in Frisian and English, almost 400 pages in length, will be published by UK-based Francis Boutle Publishers. It is the first anthology in the world to present a comprehensive range of Frisian prose and poetry past and present in translation. Swallows and Floating Horses will be launched in Boekhandel Van der Velde in Leeuwarden on Thursday 4 October.
27 September 2018 - Translators, Awards and General
The Dutch Foundation for Literature’s Translation Prizes 2018 go to Janny Middelbeek-Oortgiesen (Swedish to Dutch) and Goedele de Sterck (Dutch to Spanish), in recognition not just of their translation oeuvres but of their efforts as ambassadors between two language areas. Each winner will receive a sum of €10,000. Both prizes will be presented on Friday 14 December in Amsterdam.
13 September 2018 - Translators, Awards and General
The jury of the European Literature Prize 2018 has announced that the award goes to Norwegian author Johan Harstad and his translators Edith Koenders and Paula Stevens, for the novel Max, Mischa & het Tet-offensief (Podium). The prize will be presented to the author and his translators on the evening of Wednesday 31 October at the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague.
4 September 2018 - General
The Minister of Education, Culture and Science has appointed Roos Vermeij as chair of the Supervisory Board of the Dutch Foundation for Literature as of September 2018. She succeeds Jan Hoekema, whose term of office ended earlier this year.
3 September 2018 - Awards
Joost Swarte was awarded de Prix spécial du jury at the BD comic festival in Sollies-Ville, France, for his New York Book. The book provides a complete overview of his illustrations for The New Yorker, over 450 sketches, illustrations, ‘spots’ and covers, together with hitherto unpublished sketches, with commentary by the artist himself.
29 August 2018 - Awards
Simone Atangana Bekono was awarded the Poetry Debut Prize Aan Zee for her collection How the First Sparks Became Visible, translated from Dutch by David Colmer (2017). The prize is intended to stimulate young talent in poetry. Atangana Bekono was praised for the anger that resounds in her poetry and her unique voice.
21 August 2018 - International
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s debut novel De avond is ongemak (The Discomfort of the Evening) was a huge success in the Netherlands, going straight into the bestseller lists, even before the booksellers’ panel of television’s De Wereld Draait Door made it its book of the month. More than 40,000 copies were sold within a few months in the Netherlands, and, internationally, rights were rapidly sold to Suhrkamp in Germany and Faber & Faber in Britain and America. In Italy the book will be published by Nutrimenti, and a Korean translation is in preparation for Gimm-Young Publishers.
21 July 2018 - International
From 4 to 7 July the literary festival Bookstan - No East, No West took place in Sarajevo for the third time, with as this year’s theme Borders and Boundaries. There was an important place for literature in Dutch at this year’s festival. Curator Geert Mak, with the support of Mireille Berman of the Dutch Foundation for Literature, invited Dutch and Flemish writers to discuss borders in culture, literature and politics.
28 June 2018 - Press releases
The shortlist for the European Literature Prize 2018 has been presented in Spui25 in Amsterdam. Five titles have been selected by a professional jury led by Anna Enquist as the best Dutch translations of contemporary European novels published last year. A special feature of the prize is that it is awarded to both authors and translators.
14 June 2018 - Awards
Dutch author Cees Nooteboom has won the Premio Internazionale Elena Violani – Landi, the international literary prize from the poetry centre of the University of Bologna. The prize was awarded to Nooteboom at the opening ceremony of the Oven Poetry Festival in Bologna in Italy on Wednesday 6 June. The prize money awarded with the prize is € 6.000
7 June 2018 - Awards, Authors and General
The BookSpot Gouden Strop (Golden Noose) 2018 has been awarded to Willem Asman for his book Enter (Ambo | Anthos) by jury chairman Anniko van Santen. The Shadow Prize went to Eva Keuris for her debut Over het spoor. Willem Asman wrote Enter with a scholarship from the Dutch Foundation for Literature. Thanks to the new sponsor BookSpot, the Gouden Strop is worth an amount of € 20,000 this year.
5 June 2018 - Awards
Bette Westera is the winner of the Golden Poetry Medal 2018, the biennial award for the best children’s poetry collection written in Dutch. The prize was awarded to her for her collection Was de aarde vroeger plat? (Gottmer, 2017). Westera won the Golden Poetry Medal for the second time in a row, after being awarded the prize in 2016 for her collection Doodgewoon (Gottmer, 2014), which was subsequently translated into German by Rolf Erdorf.
29 May 2018 - Awards and Authors
Flemish poet Miriam Van hee has won the Ultima 2017 Prize for literature for her poetic oeuvre. Her latest collection, ‘As If We Were Summoned Somewhere’ (Als werden wij ergens ontboden), was described by the Ultimas’ jury as “an undeniable crowning achievement in this author’s unique, somewhat hushed oeuvre”. The jury went on to say that it is “a collection that deserves recognition, attention, and many readers.” Van hee received this Flemish Culture Award - a bronze statue and a sum of 10.000 euro - on 27 February 2018.
24 May 2018 - Press releases, International, Authors and General
No less than 30 Dutch and Flemish authors are on stage this weekend at the ‘Comédie du Livre’ festival in Montpellier, with nearly 100,000 visitors the most important literay festival in the south of France. This years 33rd edition of the festival has a special focus on the Low Countries. Both new, recently introduced authors - such as Joost de Vries, Niña Weijers, Lize Spit, Inge Schilperoord - and in France well known names are part of the invited group of writers. Many genres are represented: novels, but also graphic novels, thrillers and literary non-fiction.
22 May 2018 - Press releases, Translators, Awards and International
The Brockway Prize, a biennial prize for poetry translations from the Dutch, has been awarded to Daniel Cunin. The prize was established by the Dutch Foundation for Literature and is worth 5,000 euros. It will be presented on 1 June during the Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam.
15 May 2018 - Awards and Authors
The prestigious, triennial Theo Thijssen Prize for children’s and youth literature goes to Bibi Dumon Tak, the board of the P.C. Hooft Prize for Literature announced. She is the first author of literary non-fiction to be awarded this prize. She regularly received scholarships from the Dutch Foundation for Literature for writing her books. Her work has been translated into many languages, including Chinese, German, English, Japanese and Polish.
2 May 2018 - Awards and Authors
Moroccan-Dutch poet Mustafa Stitou will be awarded the triennial oeuvre prize for poetry from the A. Roland Holst Fund. ‘In a grand way Stitou addresses urgent themes. His oeuvre may be modest, but his voice is unique in Dutch poetry’, according to the jury report.
1 May 2018 - Awards and Authors
The Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (Dutch Literature Award), the prestigious literary prize awarded once every three years to an author whose oeuvre occupies an important place in Dutch literature, will be awarded to Judith Herzberg this fall. This was announced by minister Ingrid Engelshoven on behalf of the Committee of Ministers of the Taalunie. The jury calls Herzberg’s poetry “heartbreakingly simple yet complex precisely because of it. Her precise observations from daily life reveal something essential about human traffic”.
23 April 2018
A special edition edited by David Colmer has been published in print by The Enchanting Verses Literary Review.
19 April 2018 - International and Authors
For the Dutch and Flemish presentation at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016, the Dutch Foundation for Literature participated in the making of a series of 25 video portraits of Dutch and Flemish writers. The portraits are now available on a dedicated website.
6 April 2018 - Awards
The Woutertje Pieterse Prize 2018, one of the most prestigious prizes for Dutch children’s and youth literature - worth 15.000 euro, has been awarded to Annet Schaap for her debut Lampje (‘Little Lamp’). The jury praised the beautiful use of language in the book and the sense of recognition it evokes.
30 March 2018 - Grants awarded and General
All in 2017 awarded Translation Grants (and other grants) can be found in the annual report of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. An overview of translations of Dutch and Frisian literature worldwide, both published and in preparation, both subsidized by our Foundation and not, may be found in our Translations Database.
15 March 2018 - Events, International and General
Dutch and Flemish literature are in the spotlight at this year’s Leipziger Buchmesse, the second largest book fair in Germany, and its simultaneous literary festival Leipzig Liest. From Thursday 15 until Sunday 18 March graphic novelists and illustrators are live at work in Atelier Parade, more than ten Dutch and Flemish authors will read from their work or be interviewed on stage, and last but not least, new digital literature is introduced to publishers and the general public.
6 March 2018 - General
Once every four years the Dutch Foundation for Literature asks an independent agency to find out what ‘users of the Foundation’, particularly publishers, other literary organisations, writers and translators, think of the policies, communication and service of the Dutch Foundation.
9 February 2018 - Events, International and General
Over 100 Dutch and Flemish authors will present themselves at more than twenty literary festivals throughout France. All this in the context of Les Phares du Nord (The Lighthouses of the North), an intensive campaign aimed at presenting Dutch literature in France, the second largest book market of Europe and the fifth worldwide.
7 February 2018 - Awards and Authors
Eighteen Dutch and Flemish writers are nominated for the Libris Literature Prize 2018: one of the most prestigious literary awards in the Netherlands, modeled after the Man Booker Prize, and worth 50,000 euro. Last years laureate Alfred Birney sold more than 85.000 copies of his magnum epos ‘De tolk van Java’, an English translation is in preparation.
2 February 2018 - Authors
‘What I would most like to do is write lines that seem as if they have always existed,’ so wrote Menno Wigman (1966-2018) in a recent letter to the Volkskrant literary critic Arjan Peters. Wigman produced a body of work that can rightly be called classic, not just because of the style, but also because he is one of the few contemporary poets who wrote sentences that are known and can be quoted by many readers.
19 January 2018 - General
Is your organisation, company or NGO active in the literary, creative or cultural sector? And are your cultural activities aimed at contributing to social cohesion in the regions bordering on the European Union? If so, you might be eligible for a 2018-2020 Creative Twinning grant, a new subsidy scheme of the Dutch government. A key component of Creative Twinning projects is collaboration, since the scheme focuses on increasing trust and improving communication between the Netherlands and EU neighbours. Questions and applications may be directed to Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).
12 January 2018 - Awards, Authors and General
The BNG Bank Literature Prize, the annual Dutch prize for young writers − worth 15.000 euros, has been awarded to poet, novelist, and playwright Marjolijn van Heemstra for En we noemen hem… (And His Name Is..). German, English, French, Italian and Spanish translations of this novel are in preparation.
16 December 2017 - Awards, Authors and General
Poet Nachoem Wijnberg will receive the P.C. Hooft Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes for literature in the Netherlands, on 24 May 2018. According to the jury, reading Wijnberg is “to enter a sharp way of thinking in a flawless and dangerous language.” The annual award, worth 60.000 euros, is alternately awarded for prose (fiction), essays (non-fiction) or poetry.
15 December 2017 - Awards, Authors and General
This year, the Taalunie Playwriting Prize – worth 10.000 euros – has gone to novelist and poet Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (1968) for his play De advocaat (‘The Lawyer’). The jury stated that “De advocaat balances magisterially on the thin line between tragedy and comedy, realistic drama and meta-consideration, slapstick and emotion.”
9 December 2017 - Translators, Awards and General
Roel Schuyt (b. 1948) has been awarded the Dutch Foundation for Literature’s Translation Prize 2017. Since the 1990s he has translated work by a wide variety of writers from Central Europe, including Danilo Kiš, Dubravka Ugrešić and Borislav Čičovački, as well as young authors such as Goce Smilevski and Olja Savičević. He also wrote translation history by being one of the first to translate the work of Nobel Prize candidate Ismail Kadare directly from the Albanian. The prize, which includes the sum of €10,000, was presented in Amsterdam on Friday 8 December, during the Literaire Vertaaldagen.
24 November 2017 - Awards and Authors
Dutch poet Alfred Schaffer has been awarded the Charlotte Köhler Prize for Mens Dier Ding (Man Animal Thing). This poetry collection met with instant acclaim: it was nominated for the VSB Poetry Prize 2015 and awarded the Awater Poetry Prize 2014, the Paul Snoekprijs 2016, and now the Charlotte Köhler Prize - worth 15.000 euro. A French translation is in preparation. Alfred Schaffer (1973) is currently based in South-Africa, where he works as a lecturer at Stellenbosch University.
14 November 2017 - Press releases, Translators, Awards and International
The Vondel Translation Prize goes to David McKay for War and Turpentine, his English translation of Oorlog en terpentijn by Stefan Hertmans. The prize, worth € 5,000, will be presented in London on 1 March 2018.
12 November 2017 - Awards
Dutch authors Herman Koch, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Tommy Wieringa and their translators Sam Garrett (Koch and Wieringa) and Michele Hutchison (Pfeijffer) have been nominated for the longlist of the International Dublin Literary Award, with €100,000 the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English.
4 October 2017 - Awards
The 2017 Golden Slate Pencil has been awarded to Koos Meinderts for his children’s book Naar het noorden (To the North). This prestigious prize for the writer of the best Dutch children’s book of the year was presented at the launch of Dutch Children’s Book Week. The Dutch Foundation for Literature featured this title in its spring brochure Children’s Books from Holland.
26 September 2017 - Awards
The Golden Paintbrush 2017, the most important Dutch prize for an illustrator of children’s and young adult literature, goes to Martijn van der Linden for Tangram Cat. The book’s author Maranke Rinck has already won a Silver Slate Pencil for her part in this remarkable collaboration.
11 September 2017 - Press releases, Translators and Awards
The jury of the 2017 European Literature Prize has chosen to honour British author Max Porter and his Dutch translator Saskia van der Lingen for Verdriet is het ding met veren (De Bezige Bij), the Dutch translation of the novel Grief Is the Thing with Feathers. The author will receive a sum of €10,000 and the translator €5,000. Chair of the jury, poet and novelist Anna Enquist, will present the prize to Porter and Van der Lingen on Thursday, 2 November, at the opening night of the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague.
7 September 2017 - General, International and Press releases
‘This Is What We Share. Flanders and the Netherlands, guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair’ is to have a sequel. Several dozen Dutch and Flemish authors will be making appearances in cities across Germany in the coming months, from the International Literature Festival Berlin via Leipzig and Munich to the Harbourfront Festival in Hamburg.
10 July 2017 - General
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the first publication of Anne Frank’s diary. Her story was the inspiration for Amsterdam City of Refuge, which offers a safe haven to persecuted writers and which is hosted by the Dutch Foundation for Literature in the former house of the Frank-family, where Anne Frank started her diary before they went into hiding. Deutsche Welle’s Fred Muvunyi talks with poet Lety Elvir and the Foundation’s managing director Tiziano Perez about the City of Refuge-project.
5 July 2017 - International and Authors
Gips oder wie ich an einem einzigen Tag die Welt reparierte by Anna Woltz and her translator Andrea Kluitmann (published in Germany by Carlsen Verlag) has been awarded the 2017 Silberne Feder. The German association of women doctors selected Woltz’s book from a record number of over 100 submissions.
27 June 2017 - International
More than 300 Dutch and Flemish books have been published in Germany last year. Especially younger authors claimed their place in the spotlight. Here are some of the books that have proven to be successful, both in terms of reviews and sales. We will be happy to discuss these or other new titles at the upcoming fair in Frankfurt.
23 June 2017 - Authors
This week the winners of the Zilveren Griffels (Silver Slates) and Penselen (Paint Brushes) were announced. The Griffel Jury awarded seven children’s books Zilveren Griffels, recognition from the book trade for the best children’s titles of the past year. The Penseel Jury awarded two Zilveren Penselen and two Zilveren Paletten.
21 June 2017 - Awards
Two prizes in a row this week for Dutch non-fiction author Frank Westerman! His book Een woord, een woord received both the Brusseprijs for the best journalistic book of the year and the Bob den Uyl-prijs for the best travel story of the year.
20 June 2017 - General
Every two years IBBY publishes the Honourlist, a list of high-quality children’s and youth books published in IBBY’s more than seventy-five countries. The national sections of IBBY nominate one book for each category that excels in text, illustrations or translation.
20 June 2017 - General
At the beginning of June an exciting new international initiative dedicated to the training of emerging literary translation teachers was launched, the European School of Literary Translation. ESLT aims to support professional literary translation by creating a sustainable pan-European infrastructure for the education of literary translation teachers. ESLT will contribute to enhancing the quality of literary translations and, consequently, to the promotion of European cultural and literary diversity and the European ideal of a shared European culture.
9 June 2017 - Press releases and General
Three French writers will be staying in the Netherlands as writer in residence this autumn, at the invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature: Julia Deck, Atiq Rahimi and Olivier Rolin. Work by all three had been translated into Dutch. At a Sunday morning reading in Athenaeum Boekhandel in Amsterdam, led by Margot Dijkgraaf, the authors will give further insights into their work. The three French residencies will take place as part of an intensive campaign by the Foundation over the coming two years to increase interest in Dutch-language literature in France. Last week minister Bussemaker gave the starting shot for the campaign during ‘Le Boekenbal’.
31 May 2017 - General
Following the success of the Netherlands and Flanders as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Dutch Foundation for Literature and Flanders Literature will be concentrating on France over the next two years: the second biggest book market in Europe and the fifth biggest in the world. With an intensive campaign entitled Les Phares du Nord, the two literature foundations aim to achieve substantial growth in the number of literary translations into French as well as greater visibility for Dutch-language authors in France. The starting shot of the campaign will be fired this coming Thursday, 1 June, during ‘Le Boekenbal’ in Paris.
9 May 2017 - Awards
Alfred Birney has won the prestigious Libris Literature Prize - worth 50.000 euro - for his novel De tolk van Java (The Interpreter of Java). It is the second award that Birney receives for his book, in which he tells the story of his father who fought against alternating enemies in the independence war in former Dutch-Indies.
25 April 2017 - Awards and International
With his fourth novel, Een honger (A Hunger), previously awarded with the Dutch BNG Bank Literatuurprijs, Jamal Ouariachi wins the European Union Prize for Literature. “Besides exploring the nature of love and examining the wisdom and folly of development aid”, the jury praised _A Hunger _ for delivering “a fierce polemic against rigid sexual mores and is above all an exhilarating tour de force.”
25 April 2017 - Awards and Authors
The Gouden Lijst, a Dutch prize for youth literature for ages 12 to 15, is awarded to Benny Lindelauf for Hoe Tortot zijn vissenhart verloor. Ludwig Volbeda provided the tale about war and friendship with beautiful illustrations. An English and German translation are to be expected at Pushkin Press and Jacoby & Stuart.
19 April 2017 - Awards, International and Authors
The International Literary Prize Mondello goes to Dutch author Cees Nooteboom. The award ceremony will take place during the Salone Internazionale del Libro in Turin (Turin Bookfair) on Sunday May 21st. On this occasion he will talk with Ernesto Ferrero, Italian writer and literary critic, for an open public meeting at Sala Azzurra.
19 April 2017 - Events and General
From the 30th of May till 4th of June, Poetry International will bring approximately 20 of the most prominent contemporary poets worldwide to Rotterdam for the 48th Poetry International Festival. This means it’s time for a new edition of the translation project In Other Words.
29 March 2017 - Grants awarded and General
All in 2016 awarded Translation Grants (and other grants) can be found in the annual report of the Dutch Foundation for Literature.
20 March 2017 - Awards and International
Dutch children’s author Anna Woltz and translator Andrea Kluitmann have been awarded the Katholischen Kinder- und Jugendbuchpreis for Gips oder Wie ich an einem einzigen Tag die Welt reparierte (Plaster Cast or How I Fixed the World Within A Day). The prize of 5,000 euro goes to both author and translator. Anna Woltz previously also received the Gouden Griffel, a prestigious Dutch award for children’s literature, for this novel.
9 March 2017 - Translators, Awards and International
Great success for Madla de Bruin-Hüblová and her Czech translation Pole je tento svět of the Dutch novel The field by Dola de Jong. The novel is nominated for the Magnesia Litera Prize, together with work by Irish author Sara Baume, Tunesian writer Hédi Kaddou, and their translators. The classic The Field was rediscovered in 2015 by Amsterdam based publishing house Cossee, and will or has been translated into nine languages, including English, German, French and Swedish.
6 March 2017 - International and General
The BolognaRagazzi Digital Award for the most innovative mobile app or web product for children is awarded on an annual basis by Bologna Children’s Book Fair in partnership with Children’s Technology Review. Out of 152 entries from 32 countries, the jury has chosen the winners of the Bolognarazzi Digital Award. In addition to the winners, six digital works received a special mention and some works were selected for a short-list. Een verre reis a children’s story of Dutch writer Toon Tellegen (Querido Kinderboek) produced by Yip Yip was chosen for a special mention.
For questions concerning the activities of the foundation please contact Tiziano Perez or Hanneke Marttin.