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NEW
DUTCH
London Book Fair
Issue Spring 2020
Dutch Foundation
for Literature
FICTION
New Dutch Fiction? Yes! It’s the new title of the
10 Books From Holland brochure we have been
publishing for more than 20 years. We changed
the title to make clearer which genre of books
we are promoting.
Who decides the contents? Do you work together with
ANSWERS
Dutch publishers and agents?
We want to showcase the best
fiction from the Netherlands. We keep each other informed
Most titles have been published about interest in titles and
recently and have done very well rights sales. When we com-
in terms of reviews, sales and mission a sample translation,
awards or nominations. Equally we usually share the costs.
important is the question: However, we always make our
‘Does it travel?’ Our specialists own decisions, and remain
Barbara den Ouden, Victor completely independent.
Schiferli, Tiziano Perez and
Dick Broer try and keep up with How many books by one
all the fiction that appears and author will you support?
read as much as they can. As off
this issue, we have worked with We can support three books by
an advisory panel, who give us one author. If the author has
advice and input on new fiction. changed foreign publishing
The final selection is made house, previous titles are not
by the Dutch Foundation for counted.
Literature.
Are all books in your brochure
At book fairs, do you eligible for a grant?
talk about these books
exclusively? Yes they are, with a maximum
subsidy of 100% of the trans-
While we like to discuss our lation costs for classics and
catalogue, there are always 70% for contemporary prose,
other titles: books that have based on the actual fee paid by
just appeared or are about to the publisher and capped at a
come out or books that just maximum level of 10 eurocent
missed our selection. Our advi- per word.
sors read as much fiction
as they can.
SPRING 2020 1
SPECIALISTS
Are books that aren’t included non-fiction, we support transla- The Foundation’s specialists
in your brochure eligible? tion costs only. are present at prominent book
fairs, including Frankfurt and
As long as it’s a good literary We would like to invite a Dutch London. They will be happy to
title, it probably is. We make our author for a promotional visit give you more information.
decisions based on three crite-
ria: literary quality of the book, If you organise a good pro-
status of the publishing house gramme and offer the author
and quality of the translator. You accommodation, we can cover
can always ask in advance if a the travel costs.
book is eligible or not.
How to apply for the
Can you help us find a Amsterdam Fellowship?
translator?
Every September, we organise a
Lists of experienced translators fellowship (4 days) for publishers
are provided by e-mail. We want and editors. We do not have an Barbara den Ouden Victor Schiferli
to work with somebody who is application procedure, but you b.den.ouden@letterenfonds.nl v.schiferli@letterenfonds.nl
not on your list. Then we require can always send us an e-mail
Eastern and Middle Europe Scandinavia
a sample translation of 20 pages stating your interest.
Mediterranean countries German and
and the translator’s CV. If the Russia English-speaking countries
translation is good, the transla- Individual publisher’s visits Arabic world Poetry
tor will be added to our list. If the Graphic novels
translation needs repair, we can We host 8 to 10 publishers and
make suggestions. If the trans- editors per year on an individual
lation is beyond repair, you are basis. Usually, these are great
advised to hire somebody who is if you already have one or more
on our list. Dutch authors on your list
and would like to see them,
How do we apply for a combined with a schedule of
translation subsidy? meetings.
We need contracts with the What’s Schwob?
rights holders and the translator,
plus the application form. You Schwob.nl is a European
Tiziano Perez Dick Broer
can submit digitally from our network for forgotten or undis-
t.perez@letterenfonds.nl d.broer@letterenfonds.nl
website: www.letterenfonds.nl/ covered books, established
en/translation-subsidy. and maintained by translators, Managing director Literary thrillers
Meetings are held six times a publishers and editors, research- Brazil
year, the dates are announced on ers, readers and critics. China
our website. Japan
Can I subscribe to
Do you subsidise production New Dutch Fiction?
costs?
Please leave your card at our
This is possible in the case of stand, or send a message.
editions of poetry, illustrated All our past issues are available
children’s books or graphic at www.letterenfonds.nl.
novels. For regular fiction and
2 NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 3
Publishing details
Herman Koch Finse dagen (2020)
288 pages
Finnish Days 78,925 words
Sample translation available
Rights
A probing novel about grief and coming of age Ambo Anthos
Orli Naamani
onaamani@amboanthos.nl
Rights sold
Finland (Siltala), Germany (KiWi),
France (Belfond)
Herman Koch became known for his In Finland, where physical labor served
plot-driven literature, full of page- as an antidepressant, he couldn’t
turning suspense and the seductive use language to get by, let alone hide
lure of evil. They’re thrillers and behind irony. He knew two words of
situation comedies at the same time, Finnish: ‘äiti’ (mother) and ‘kuollut’
in which Koch castigates the latest (dead). Nearly all of the Finnish episode
well-intentioned trends. With this new is recounted in the first of the book’s
novel, he opts for a different, more three parts, although Koch makes
autobiographical approach. strategic use of some omitted informa-
tion towards the end. But Finnish Days
1973. Herman Koch was nineteen and covers Koch’s entire life, complete with Herman Koch
trying to figure things out. Six months tangents and detours – from his love of (1953) is an internationally best-
after graduating high school, shortly motorbikes to his strange relationship selling author. In 2009 he wrote The
Dinner, which was translated into 42
after the death of his mother, he left with hotel rooms. languages and acquired world fame.
for Finland. In the dense forests of the Koch has found a clever alternative to During subsequent years, bestsellers
eastern province of North Karelia, he the powerful, convergent quality of his such as Summer House with Swim-
sped around on a tractor, milked cows, previous, plot-driven work. Here, follow- ming Pool (2011), Dear Mr M. (2014)
plowed fields, dragged trees around, ing the path of his life gives the book the and The Ditch (2016) were published.
In Finnish Days Koch returns to his
made merry at village parties, drank required structure, and the core theme
youth, which also inspired his debut
methylated spirits, sawed into his own – the genesis of Koch’s life as a reclusive novel Save Us, Maria Montanelli
limbs and kissed a rural beauty. ‘I wait writer – throws that life into intriguing ‘Koch commands his metier with an (1989).
for you,’ she told him. relief. And the truth? ‘The only truth effortless superiority.’ Photo: Maarten Kools
But Finnish Days is not a love story. is the book,’ he says. Finnish Days is
de Volkskrant
The youthful Koch had gone to Finland a book about how stories are shaped
to be alone, acting on a deeply-felt and reshaped, about the strength and
existential urge that he wasn’t to under- weakness of memory, and an intimate ‘This could very well be Koch’s
stand until much later in life. His father portrait of the writer as a young man, best novel.’
had told him to think about his future. contrasted with the present day. Het Parool
In Koch’s reflections on the subject,
we recognize a portrait of the writer as ‘Even more than a book about
a young man, or rather – a portrait of a memories, this is a book about lost
young man in mourning, who wants to memories and that is the thing that
be a writer but daren’t admit it. makes this one so special.’
Trouw
4 NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 5
Publishing details
Stephan Enter Pastorale (2019)
288 pages, 86,831 words
Pastoral Publisher
Van Oorschot, Frederike Doppenberg
frederike@vanoorschot.nl
Coming-of-age novel about being uprooted Rights
and finding freedom 2 Seas Agency, Marleen Seegers
marleen.seegers@2seasagency.com
Translated titles
Compassie: France (Actes Sud, 2018),
Hungary (Gondolat, 2017)
Grip: France (Actes Sud, 2015),
Could there be a more quintessentially were isolated from Dutch society and Germany (Berlin, 2013), Hungary
Dutch theme for a novel than severing not given the opportunity to integrate. (Gondolat, 2015), Italy, (Iperborea,
ties with the Reformed Church? You However, they ended up never going 2014), Norway (Font Forlag, 2013)
could argue that ‘our’ relationship with back, and rising tensions led to several Spel: Denmark (Turbine, 2013),
the former Dutch colonies comes in a terrorist attacks by young Moluccans in Germany (Berlin Verlag, 2009)
close second to this defining topic. the 1970s.
High-school student Oscar de Vree
Stephan Enter
In his fifth novel, Pastoral, Stephan is asked to deliver homework to a
(1968) debuted in 1999 with his col-
Enter sets about combining two Dutch Moluccan classmate who is temporarily lection of short stories Winterhanden
worlds. He even has them exist quite absent from school, and falls in love (Chilblained Hands). His first novel,
literally side by side, in a sleepy coun- with the boy’s sister. It’s the start of a ‘As always, he is brilliant and Lichtjaren (Light Years), published in
try village in the mid-1980s, where the torrid, confusing summer and a series controlled in his dissections of the 2004, was nominated for the Libris
Reformed neighbourhood is right next of encounters he’ll look back on as ‘the Literature Prize. His third book, Spel
adolescent experience, and in his (Game; 2007), demonstrated that
door to the local Moluccan community most important events of his adoles- descriptions of the atmosphere. But he was already one of the foremost
(immigrants from the Maluku Islands cence.’ Meanwhile, Oscar’s older sister Pastoral is even more daring than his writers of his generation. His third
in the Indonesian archipelago). But Louise is also spending the summer in previous work – the author is taking novel, Grip, sold over 50,000 copies.
the two areas might as well be oceans the village. She’s angry with her mother, bigger risks.’ It received universal praise, was
apart – the Reformed villagers shun the who is becoming more religious with nominated for the Libris Prize for
de Volkskrant Literature and the AKO Literature
newcomers, accusing them of all sorts every Sunday that passes, and angry
Prize, and it won the Golden BookOwl
of terrible misdeeds. with the Reformed community that Award, the C.C.S. Crone Prize and the
‘The impressive thing about
The history of the Moluccan popula- has stolen her childhood. This results F. Bordewijk-Award.
Pastoral is that the book takes a
tion in the Netherlands – most of whom in diverting, searing monologues and
political stance while at the same Photo: Annaleen Louwes
come from the island of Ambon – is heated discussions.
time showing the complexity of
as complicated as it is tragic. Initially, What may be even more exciting than
many of them fought on the side of Oscar and Louise’s carefully constructed
the situation, by closely tracking
the Dutch in the Indonesian War of storylines is Enter’s impressively rich the thoughts of its two sensitive
Independence in 1948. After the proc- style. Just as in his previous work, his narrators.’
lamation of the Republic of Indonesia, prose is consistently outstanding. De Groene Amsterdammer
it was difficult for them to remain in Almost everything he describes is
their home country. Some 3,500 Moluc- brought to life in apt, vivid detail. ‘Irresistibly funny and astute. But for
cans were shipped to the Netherlands, all his often brilliant descriptions,
where they were housed in camps. The above all I would call Enter a master
plan was that they would return to the of tender moments.’
Moluccas later on, which is why they Trouw
6 NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 7
Publishing details
Oek de Jong Zwarte schuur (2019)
489 pages
Black Barn 151,103 words
Publisher
Atlas Contact
An accusation turns the life of a world-famous Hayo Deinum
hdeinum@atlascontact.nl
artist upside down Rights
Liepman Agency
Mark Koralnik
marc.koralnik@liepmanagency.com
Right sold
In a grand, sweeping novel, Oek de Fran is aware of his background. She Italy (Neri Pozza)
Jong shows how artist Maris Coppoolse admires his work but is aware that
is tortured by his past and the huge he’s sick of her. She has two children Translated titles
impact this has, not only on his work, from a previous relationship with a Please see
but also on the lives of his loved ones. photographer and filmmaker who then en.vertalingendatabase.nl
died in a car accident near Rome. Her
The novel opens with Maris and his daughter Stan is a war photographer,
wife arguing in a taxi on their way to and her son Thijs is a journalist. Thijs is
Oek de Jong
the opening of a career retrospective at level-headed and analytical and closer to
(1952) broke through in 1979 with his
the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. his mother; Stan is impulsive and tem- debut novel Opwaaiende zomerjurken
Maris is tense; the noise on the street peramental and has a close relationship (Billowing Summer Dresses). Over fif-
is making him aggressive, and he takes with Maris. teen months, the novel was reprinted
everything Fran says as a provocation. In his characteristic, visceral style nineteen times and sold 95,000 cop-
ies. He confirmed his status as one of
Fran feels agitated and tries to ignore – rich with visual and tactile detail –
the Netherlands’ top authors with the
Maris’ high-strung mood. After twenty De Jong has Maris relive his past. He philosophical and equally successful
years, they’re practically strangers to describes in detail the events in the novel Cirkel in het gras (Circle in the
one another in a relationship full of fear run-up to and on the day of the fatal Grass, 1985) and Hokwerda’s kind
‘Oek de Jong is a gifted, evocative (Hokwerda’s Child, 2002), a tragic
and mistrust: ‘they belonged to a gen- accident, and how Maris rebuilds his
storyteller with insight into the portrait of a woman. Pier and Ocean
eration that had learned to talk freely life in the aftermath, growing into a cel-
human psyche and an eye for sublime (2013) was shortlisted for the Libris
about sex, but their pain and hurt had ebrated artist. In the course of this story,
details – details that are surprising, Literature Prize and won the Gouden
driven them back into the silence and he also paints a vivid picture of the gritty Boekenuil (‘Golden Book Owl’).
moving, thought-provoking and that
silent suffering of their parents.’ Amsterdam of the ’80s, with its artists
command admiration. Black Barn has Photo: Marie-Jeanne van Hövell tot Westerflier
Maris is a big man with a boom- and drug addicts.
ing voice and a striking face. He lives In the novel’s impressive final section,
all the makings of a classic.’
predominantly in the past, but at the Maris and Fran travel to La Gomera. de Volkskrant
same time tries to repress it. His life is After all the darkness, De Jong offers his
marked by two traumatic events in his characters and readers some light. ‘With his in-depth psychological
childhood. He is abused by three boys. Maris comes to terms with Matty’s insights and a narrative arc that
Then, several weeks later, he plays a sex death, and the marital crisis that he and bends inexorably towards healing,
game with Matty, the girl next door, in a Fran have been stuck in for over a year Oek de Jong has once again written
black barn. She ends up falling from the seems to be resolved. an instant classic, the kind that
hay loft and she dies. He is charged with you’re almost surprised is still being
manslaughter and has to spend some written.’
time in a youth offenders’ institution. de Groene Amsterdammer
8 NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 9
Publishing details
Arnon Grunberg Bezette gebieden (2020)
432 pages
Occupied Territories 121,657 words
Sample translation available
Rights
A groundbreaking novel on what we consider Lebowski Agency
Jasper Henderson
to be reality, truth and love jasper.henderson@
lebowskipublishers.nl
Translated titles
Please see
en.vertalingendatabase.nl
As a writer, Grunberg set himself the dom. He suffers a public fall from grace
task of filling up the gaps in human in Amsterdam after one of his female
memory with fiction. That’s how he patients comes out about having been
gave meaning to life and enabled his abused by him. Kadoke flees and falls
readers to live vicariously through his in love with his second cousin Anat.
work. Twenty years after his debut, He and his father travel to a settlement
Grunberg set out to write a major where – he is shocked to discover – he
novel about his mother Hannelore, is welcomed as the Messiah, the one
who survived Auschwitz as a child. He who can father Anat’s children. But that Arnon Grunberg
moved back into his childhood home does require that he prove, in front of (1971) is one of the most important
but on the evening of February 9th, his mother-in-law, that he’s not just Dutch writers of his generation.
2015 she died, at the age of 87. ‘Now ‘another impotent Jew’ – resulting in a He writes novels, plays, essays,
I have to become my own mother,’ scene that’s as hilarious as it is poetry and columns. His work has
been translated into 29 different
he wrote. harrowing. languages and has received many
Grunberg is a boundary-breaking awards. Grunberg was expelled from
In the novel Birthmarks (2015), a grown- writer. What’s amazing is that the hel- ‘This is Grunberg at the peak school at the age of 17. He’d initially
up son stands in front of the door of ter-skelter of painful and bizarre scenes of his abilities [...] Rarely has wanted to be an actor, but shifted his
his parental home in Amsterdam. His in Occupied Territories isn’t just shock- focus to writing. He was 23 when he
Grunberg written about love with published his debut, Blue Mondays,
name is Otto Kadoke, and he works as ing and alienating. It’s also moving and such surprising sincerity and appearing like a devastating meteor
a psychiatrist at a crisis center. Kadoke speaks to the meaning of our existence. persuasiveness.’ in the literary firmament. Occupied
violates all the protocols to keep his At the same time, Grunberg’s ‘revalua- NRC Handelsblad Territories is his thirteenth novel.
suicidal patients alive. Meanwhile, he tion of all values’ sheds sharp light on
Photo: Bettina Fürst – Fastré
is doing everything in his power to keep what we consider to be reality, truth and
‘A testimony to Grunberg’s ability to
his elderly Jewish mother safe. Then love. This is literature at its finest.
describe life – with all its warmth,
he learns that his mother is really his
juiciness and emotionality – at its
father. ‘Your mother has a penis,’ says
the nurse who puts her in the shower.
most tragic and cynical [...] Reading
Kadoke is messed up and detached, Grunberg remains a tremendously
but he does succeed at one thing: his exciting experience.’
mother is still alive and well on the final Trouw
page.
In Occupied Territories, Kadoke and ‘The most enlightened and mature
his reluctant mother – who, once again, that we’ve seen Grunberg to date.’
is his father – go to Israel to find free- De Telegraaf
10 NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 11
Publishing details
Romana Vrede De nobele autist (2020)
197 pages
The Noble Autist 57,581 words
Rights
De Arbeiderspers
Moving debut about a mother and her son, Jolijn Spooren
j.spooren@singeluitgeverijen.nl
who has autism and learning difficulties
Romana Vrede created a much- defend his behavior in public, and ends
acclaimed theatre show about her son up feeling like ‘a sad black woman with
Charlie, who has autism and a learning her sad black child.’
disability: Who’s Afraid of Charlie The chapters are told from the
Stevens? He is also the focal point of perspective of the mother, who regularly
her debut novel, The Noble Autist. quotes from books and plays. Charlie’s
fictional response to her story is told
De Vrede’s biggest fear is that no one in footnotes. This is how the author
will be able to give Charlie the care he gives her nonverbal son a voice, with
needs once she dies – that there will be the novel creating the space for some-
no one left who understands him. The thing that is impossible in real life – a
book starts with her imagining Charlie’s dialogue between mother and son. De
death, a death she won’t be around to Vrede’s determination to empathize
witness, but which, with great com- with her son rubs off on the reader. The ‘An impressive and inspired self-
passion and affection, she explores in Noble Autist is a call for compassion for examination, an impassioned plea for Romana Vrede
fictional form: ‘I now give you my pres- those who are different, but above all more understanding without any sort (Paramaribo, 1972) is an actor and
ence in print.’ She then tells the story of it’s a moving declaration of love from a of moralism. Raw and powerful, but director with Het Nationale Theater.
her life before Charlie – of how she fell mother to her son. She received the Theo d’Or – the most
also funny and, above all, empathetic important Dutch theater prize – for
in love with his father, the moment of – and well-written, with an impressive her role in RACE. In 2019, she made
his conception, his birth and the reali- literary structure. Vrede succeeds in Dit is de leven, a much-acclaimed
zation that he was different from other holding up a mirror to us: who gets to documentary about autistic children.
children. decide what is ‘normal’?’ Photo: Benny Stroet
She describes the happy moments,
Dutch writer and TV presenter
and calls him the wisest person she Cornald Maas
knows. But the constant care of her son
is hard on her: he is nonverbal, can’t go
to the bathroom independently, and can About Who’s Afraid of Charlie Stevens:
be so physically aggressive sometimes
that his care worker ends up getting ‘A confronting and moving portrait
a brain contusion. She describes the whose merit goes beyond just the
despair and the exhaustion, the reac- artistic quality of the production.
tions from other people, her own shame It shows how valuable it is to have a
in public and her sense of guilt about different perspective.’
that. She doesn’t always explain or De theaterkrant
12 NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 13
Publishing details
Kees van Beijnum 23 seconden (2019)
392 pages
23 Seconds 103,271 words
Sample translation available
Rights
Writer discovers the truth about her mother’s De Bezige Bij
Marijke Nagtegaal
murder in an ingeniously constructed m.nagtegaal@debezigebij.nl
Uta Matten
roman noir u.matten@debezigebij.nl
Translated titles
De ordening: Germany (DVA, 2000)
De offers: Germany (Bertelsmann,
Anne Lieftinck grew up in Amsterdam’s On that fateful evening, Anne had heard 2016)
Red Light District where twenty years a voice in the house and smelled after-
ago her mother, who was a sex worker shave. Was it Hayo, hiding in her moth-
in one of the window brothels, was er’s bedroom? She is determined to
bludgeoned to death with a hammer. find out the truth by talking to as many
Haantje, a boy living nearby at the time, witnesses as possible. Van Beijnum
was charged with the crime. He had skilfully conjures up a cast of different
the motive, means and opportunity shadowy characters – a motley chorus
– Anne’s mother was constantly slan- that accompanies Anne on her danger-
dering him, and his fingerprints were ous quest.
found on the hammer. Van Beijnum grew up in Amsterdam’s
Red Light District himself and he paints Kees van Beijnum
Anne, who overcame her humble a visceral portrait of the area as a sep- (1954) broke through with bestsellers
like Dichter op de Zeedijk (Poet on
beginnings, has become a well-known arate community, governed by its own the Zeedijk, 1995) and De oesters
writer and is working on a book about social codes. Every move the characters van Nam Kee (Oysters at Nam Kee’s,
her mother’s murder. One day she is make turns out to be another cog in 2000), which was later turned into a
asked to write a contribution for a book the plot of this gripping novel, building successful movie. He writes in the
‘An accomplished, powerful portrait of tradition of Capote, Hemingway and
of photographs commemorating her towards an ending that leaves no one
the Red Light District – a place that’s Faulkner. Van Beijnum spent most of
high-school boyfriend Hayo, who died in untouched.
difficult to get away from, where his childhood in the cafés and hotels
a bombing in Afghanistan. He’d lived on run by his family on Amsterdam’s
you’re at risk of getting pulled under
Anne’s street and wasn’t afraid of any- Zeedijk.
by the self-destructive current that
one – undaunted, he made a career for
seems to be prevalent there.’ Photo: Keke Keukelaar
himself photographing squatters’ riots,
drug addicts and, later on, war zones. De Telegraaf
Her research increasingly leads her to
doubt that Haantje is really guilty of the ‘23 Seconds sounds like a thriller,
crime. The excerpts from his journals but it’s much more than that. It’s an
that she gets to read paint a picture of a intriguing portrayal of a certain era,
somewhat naive boy who likes to draw of a certain place and the oftentimes
and is trying to escape the suffocating disturbed relationships between
Salvation Army environment that his people. Love, betrayal […] Van
mother is immersed in – not some- Beijnum describes it all with ease,
one who’d be capable of such a brutal without resorting to clichés.’
murder. De Zondag
14 NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 15
Publishing details
Anneloes Timmerije De mannen van Maria (2019)
344 pages
Maria’s Men 86,107 words
5,000 copies sold
Rights
How a girl from humble beginnings worked Querido
Jolijn Spooren
her way up from maidservant to extremely j.spooren@singeluitgeverijen.nl
wealthy woman Translated title
Slaapwandelen bij daglicht:
Germany (edition fünf, 2018)
The protagonist of this novel, Maria board of directors. She climbs the social
van Aelst, really existed. We don’t know ladder, can’t seem to get pregnant and
much about her, other than that she is bored out of her mind. As much as
was married to Antonio van Diemen, was possible for a woman in those days,
Governor-General of the former Dutch she takes risks and breaks with con-
East Indies between 1637 and 1645, vention. She helps her third husband
that their marriage remained childless maintain the clove monopoly and rules Anneloes Timmerije
and that she died an extremely rich the roost in Batavia’s social circles. (1955) is a journalist and author of
literary and historical non-fiction. In
woman. Timmerije has largely filled in Flouting all the rules, she starts trading 2005 she made her fiction debut with
the details of Maria’s life herself and in diamonds. Over time, she grows to be the short-story collection Zwartzuur
made her into a smart, headstrong the ‘queen of Batavia.’ When she finally (Black and Sour), which received the
woman. moves back to Amsterdam in 1646, 2006 Vrouw & Kultuur Debuutprijs
she is among the one hundred richest (Woman & Culture Debut Prize). This
initial success was followed by her
In 1625, Maria van Aelst leaves for people in the Republic. first novel, De grote Joseph (The Great
Batavia (present-day Jakarta) on a Dutch In her fifth work of fiction, Tim- Joseph, 2010), Slaapwandelen bij
East India Company ship. She and six merije – a journalist who herself has ‘A lively portrait of a 17th-century daglicht (Sleepwalking in Broad
other girls are being sent to give birth Indonesian roots – vividly describes the businesswoman, and a fantastic
Daylight, 2013) and, together with
to Dutch progeny: ‘We went to bear 17th century world of scurvy, swamp Charles den Tex, Het vergeten verhaal
portrait of the era. Timmerije van een onwankelbare liefde in
children, shipped at the request of the fever, slavery and pirates, and takes us
describes it all equally vividly: the oorlogstijd (2014), which was trans-
gentlemen over there, seven girls, most inside the colonial, patriarchal mindset
hardships of life at sea, the thriving lated into English as Finding Her
of whom had never even been kissed.’ that existed back then. Maria’s Men is a (World Editions, 2016).
East India Company, the extreme
After a hazardous, nine-month journey, gripping story about a self-made woman
boredom of women in the upper Photo: Esther Hessing
Batavia turns out to be in the middle of a who seizes life by the horns.
classes. She doesn’t allow the
dangerous, swampy plain. Maria is cho-
novel’s world to be too colored by
sen by an older, upper-class gentleman,
who soon afterwards dies. Her second
her 21st-century perspective: no
husband, too, passes away within a year one is fazed by corporal punishment,
– at just 22 years old, she has already slavery is a fact of life.’
been widowed twice. de Volkskrant
Because Maria marries increasingly
powerful men, she ends up privy to a lot ‘Timmerije has good taste and a
of information – for example about the skilled pen, and she did thorough
decisions made by the Seventeen Gen- research.’
tlemen, the Dutch East India Company’s AD Magazine
16 NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 17Publishing details
Henriette Roosenburg De muren vielen om (1957, March 2020)
320 pages
The Walls Came Tumbling Down 80,000 words
Rights
Cossee
Three women in the Dutch resistance movement Stella Rieck
rieck@cossee.com
are liberated by the Russians in 1945, but have to Rights sold
escape their liberators in a rowboat Germany (Aufbau), Italy (Fazi), Scribe
(World English)
May 1945. Three women from the They set out on foot for the River Elbe
Dutch resistance movement are with a Dutch sailor, Dries. Here they
languishing in a German Nazi prison. steal a rowboat called the ‘Montgomery’
The thunder of war outside tells them in hopes of making it to Hamburg, in
that the Allied forces are advancing, but the British-occupied zone. They have
they could still end up being executed hilarious encounters with Russian
at the eleventh hour. After the Russian soldiers, but they are also cautious – the
army has liberated them, they find Russians frequently rape women. Before
Henriette Roosenburg
themselves faced with an unexpected they get to Hamburg, they are forced off (1916 –1972) was born into a wealthy
question: how do you find your way the water by gunfire and put in a Rus- family of doctors in The Hague. During
home without help in a country that’s sian camp. Eventually they are handed the Second World War, she worked for
completely in ruins? over to the Americans as former ‘politi- an influential illegal Dutch newspa-
cal prisoners.’ They can finally go home. per, Het Parool, until a secret agent
recruited her to a clandestine route
Henriette, Nel and Joke were sentenced A moving yet light-footed memoir, for smuggling people and intelligence
to death by the Nazis in 1944 for help- The Walls Come Tumbling Down tells the over the border into Spain. In 1994
ing Allied pilots who’d been shot down true story of a journey, with women as she established a military espionage
and smuggling military intelligence the unexpected leads. Their liberation route to Switzerland for the Dutch
to England. Before their sentence is and journey home required just as much government. After the War, Roosen-
burg worked in New York as a reporter
carried out in the Netherlands, they find courage, inventiveness and humor as
for Time, LIFE and Fortune. The Walls
themselves in a German prison, where their dangerous work in the resistance Came Tumbling Down (1957) made her
they keep up their spirits by singing and and their imprisonment had. The instantly famous and was a bestseller
doing embroidery. literary style almost makes you forget in both the US and the Netherlands.
Their euphoria upon being liberated that this book is a historical eyewitness
is followed by the sobering realization account of an unexposed period in Ger- ‘It’s an absolute knockout.’
that no one will be coming to help man history: the chaotic first weeks after Viking Publishers, 1957
them. No one in the Netherlands knows the end of the Second World War.
if they’re even still alive or where they The afterword by historian Sonja van ‘A female Bridge on the
are. Germany is in ruins and flooded ’t Hof provides more context on Roosen- River Kwai.’
by hundreds of thousands of survivors burg’s life and the impressive role she
Hollywood actress Jan Sterling, 1958
from camps and prisons. Without played in the resistance.
identity documents, the women – weak-
ened from their time in prison – are not ‘Here is a book full of utterly
allowed to leave the Soviet occupation unself-conscious heroism.’
zone. The Washington Post, 1983
18 CLASSIC NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 19Publishing details
Charles den Tex Verloren vrouw (2019)
384 pages
A Woman Lost 14,390 words
Rights
Harper Collins
Tech thriller about identity and what can and Erwin Koning
erwin.koning@harpercollins.nl
can’t be made Translated titles
De macht van meneer Miller: English
(WorldEditions, 2015), Italian (e/o,
2010), Germany (Grafit, 2007)
Cel: Turkish (Yapi Kredi, 2011), France
(Presses de la Cité, 2010), Italian (e/o,
In Den Tex’s cynical tech universe, being shot dead, after which the boys 2010), Germany (Grafit, 2009)
a young woman goes in search of her have to try and hide from the powerful Wachtwoord: Germany (Grafit, 2011)
identity. Is she a remote-controlled higher-ups that their handler was
cyborg, or does she have an autono- working for.
mous existence and past? When Djenna regains consciousness,
it turns out she has no memory of her
An exhausted man on his way home past whatsoever. She and Luc set out in
spots a beautiful young woman lying search of her identity. She discovers she
unconscious, covered in vomit and is proficient in a martial art form that
urine, in a dark alley between two allows her to kill an opponent with a
buildings. He figures she’s probably had single blow – and that she enjoys doing
too much to drink or taken the wrong it. So what is she – a sexy call girl or a
pills. Luc doesn’t have much faith in the cool-blooded, violent murderer?
emergency medical services and decides Den Tex crafts this premise into a
to take Djenna home. He undresses her, gripping page-turner, with the various
puts her in the shower and then to bed. players searching for each other and
Luc earns a living as a scammer. He acts especially for Djenna and control over Charles den Tex
as an intermediary in real-estate trans- her brain cells. (1952) is the Netherlands’ leading
thriller writer. His work has won all
actions, charging a cash fee and then It’s a skilful depiction of the potential
the major prizes in crime fiction and
vanishing without a trace, using false harmful consequences of technological
‘The main thing that strikes you is has been translated into several
identities. knowledge – a world in which one’s languages.
the pleasure with which he spins
It turns out that Djenna has been the identity and one’s past can be bought
his web. You see it, for example, in Photo: Wim van de Hulst
victim of two street urchins, Sem and and sold and where people can be trans-
the unparalleled way that he gives
Rafik, who were supposed to steal her formed into remote-controlled fighting
each character their own idiolect
cellphone. They slipped her a pill so machines.
that she wouldn’t be able to remember [...] Worlds collide, but the distinct
anything. But when they meet with their voices make each character
handler, Berry, to give him the phone credible.’
and get paid, things go awry. He refuses de Volkskrant
to pay them the full amount before
getting the PIN to unlock the device, ‘Den Tex once again proves that he
but the boys are reluctant to give out the can rightly be called the Michael
PIN until they’ve got their money. This Crichton of the Low Countries.’
mutual distrust culminates in Berry Hebban
20 THRILLER NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 21Publishing details
Guido van Driel In Holland Suburbia (2020)
176 pages
In Holland Suburbia 10,050 words
Rights
Concerto Books
The Virgin Mary hovers over a residential Hansje Joustra, Dick van Dijck
hansje@concertobooks.nl
neighborhood, but she’s not there to protect dick@concertobooks.nl
the people Translated titles
Toen we van de Duitsers verloren:
Germany (Avant-Verlag, 2016)
Gasten: France (L’Agrume, 2014)
Strange things are afoot in Guido Guido van Driel
van Driel’s graphic novel, In Holland (1962) is a history graduate and self-taught
artist. His first comic, Vis aan de wand (Fish
Suburbia. The backdrop is a typical new on the Wall), was published in 1994, promptly
development in the Dutch suburbs, winning awards. He received a great deal of
complete with family homes, tidy front attention from the press for his book De fijn-
yards and garages. A Beatles-esque proever – Een raamvertelling (The Connoisseur
band rehearses inside one of those – A Frame Story), about saxophone repairman
Nico, and his fondness for prostitutes. His
garages, but things soon take a turn for choice of subjects for his subsequent books
the worse for them. One of the band was also unconventional: the 1974 World Cup ‘An exciting and intriguing story.’ ‘If there were a Nobel Prize for
members is found dead in the bushes; final, which was so traumatic for the Nether- Het Parool comics, In Holland Suburbia
another is hit by a piece of metal that lands, in Toen wij van de Duitsers verloren would definitely be a contender.
falls from the sky. UFOs are flying over- (When We Lost to the Germans), or the life of De Poort comic bookstore,
an asylum seeker in the provinces in Om
head, and the Virgin Mary is hovering mekaar in Dokkum. Van Driel has created his
Ghent, Belgium
up there too, as a silent witness to all own film version of this graphic novel with the
the mayhem. title of The Resurrection of a Bastard, which
was selected as the opening film of the 42nd
Guido van Driel paints his stories onto International Film Festival in Rotterdam in
2013. He also works as an illustrator for a
black paper with acrylics, which makes
variety of newspapers and magazines.
you feel like you’re inside a movie the-
atre, watching the action unfold. That’s
no coincidence, because Van Driel is
also a filmmaker with several feature
Photo: Lennert Hillege
films to his name. His latest, Bloody
Marie, got rave reviews in the US. Multi-
talented Van Driel uses his own graphic
novels as storyboards for his movies,
with the influence of directors such as
Tarantino and David Lynch leaving a
clear mark on the dialogue and events.
Into this mix, Van Driel adds his fascina-
tion with unidentified flying objects
– he feels people should dare to believe
in miracles. In Holland Suburbia is cur-
rently being adapted into a TV series.
22 GRAPHIC NOVEL NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 23TITLES
Recent Dutch novels that have
SUCCESSFUL
been acquired by publishing
houses from many different
countries.
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer
The Discomfort of Evening Grand Hotel Europa
Intense, poetic debut about the daughter in a God-fearing Writer pays homage to lost love and a dying Europe
family coming to terms with the loss of her brother
Original title imprinted on my mind forever. 250,000 copies sold ‘Pfeijffer’s prose is funny, nasty,
De avond is ongemak I can’t remember the last sharp, and at once self-con-
Rights
time there has been so much scious and absolutely light on
40,000 copies sold Jolijn Spooren
in-house excitement about a its feet. I’m so pleased to be
j.spooren@singeluitgeverijen.nl
Rights debut novel – and we can’t wait able to publish his biggest and
Hayo Deinum for others to experience it.’ Rights sold most important statement to
hdeinum@atlascontact.nl Ella Griffiths editor at Bulgaria (Colibri), Czech Republic date here in the New World:
Faber & Faber (Host), Croatia (V.B.Z), Finland the Great European Novel
Rights sold (Gummerus), France (Presses de indeed!’
Arabic World (Al Arabi), Spain ‘The novel not only convinces la Cité), Germany (Piper), Israel Jeremy Davies, editor at
(Temas de Hoy), France (Buchet (Modan), Italy (Nutrimenti),
the reader through the lively Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Chastel), Germany (Suhrkamp), Macedonia (Antolog), Norway
Italy (Nutrimenti), Korea (Gimm-
portrayed characters, but also Dutch edition by (Gyldendal), Portugal (Porto
Young), UK & Commonwealth through a spirited, dense De Arbeiderspers, 2018
Editora), Spain (Acantilado),
‘A great satire concerning every-
(Faber & Faber), USA (Graywolf narrative. The rural metaphors UK (Fourth Estate), USA (Farrar, thing from the destructive
Press) and the language coming from Straus and Giroux) force of mass tourism to the
the mouth of ten-year-old Jas, sellout of European culture.
‘The Discomfort of Evening are even more impressive.’ Pfeijffer captures the Zeitgeist
is something special. Rijneveld Neue Rhein Zeitung and serves it up irresistibly.’
has created a world of lan- NRC Handelsblad
guage unlike any other: her
wild, striking imagery in all
its horror and beauty will be
Translated by Helga van Beuningen (2019)
Translated by Stefano Musili (2019)
French edition by Buchet Chastel
English edition by Faber & Faber
Translated by Michele Hutchison
Translated by Michele Hutchison
Scheduled for September 2020
Scheduled for March 19, 2020
German edition by Suhrkamp
US edition by Graywolf Press
Italian edition by Nutrimenti
Translated by Daniel Cunin
Scheduled for April 2020
24 NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 25RECENT
TRANSLATIONS
This is a selection of recently published
translations from the Dutch.
For more information please go to our
online database of translations:
en.vertalingendatabase.nl
Rodaan Al Galidi Gerbrand Bakker Marjolijn van Heemstra Herman Koch Gerard Reve
Two Blankets, Three Pear Trees Blossom White And His Name is Easy Living [Sjeot ha-erew]
Sheets
Translated into French Translated into Italian Translated into German Translated into Hebrew
Translated into English by Françoise Antoine for by Laura Pignatti for by Herbert Post and by Ran HaCohen for
by Jonathan Reeder for Grasset, 2020 Rizzoli, 2019 Christiane Kuby for Am Oved, 2019
World Editions LLC, 2020 Kiepenheuer & Witsch,
2019
Hendrik Groen Arnon Grunberg Herman Koch Eva Meijer Tommy Wieringa
Live and Let Live Birthmarks The Ditch Bird Cottage The blessed Rita
Translated into German Translated into Hungarian Translated into English Translated into French Translated into English
by Wibke Kuhn for Piper, by Szabolcs Wekerle for by Sam Garrett for Hogarth, by Emmanuelle Tardif for by Sam Garrett for Scribe,
2019 Gondolat, 2019 2019 Presses de la Cité, 2020 2020
26 NEWDUTCHFICTION SPRING 2020 27New Dutch Fiction is
distributed to international
editors and publishers.
Please contact us if you
would like to be included
on our mailing list.
Editors Nederlands Letterenfonds
CONTACT
Dick Broer, Barbara den Ouden, www.letterenfonds.nl
Tiziano Perez, Victor Schiferli post@letterenfonds.nl
t +31 (0)20 520 73 00
Contributions
Postbus / PO Box 16588
Onno Blom, Dick Broer,
NL –1001 RB Amsterdam
Sonja van ’t Hof, Marlies Hoff,
Barbara den Ouden, Visiting address:
Joost Pollman, Victor Schiferli Nieuwe Prinsengracht 89
1018 VR Amsterdam
Some texts in this brochure were
based on reviews by Judith Eiselin,
Dries Muus and Jeroen Vullings
Translation
Emma Rault
Cover photo
Margaret Hart
Printing
Jos Morree Fine Books
Design
Philip Stroomberg
28 NEWDUTCHFICTION‘Koch commands his metier
with an effortless superiority.’
Herman Koch Finnish Days 4
‘Irresistibly funny and astute.’
Stephan Enter Pastoral 6
‘Oek de Jong has once again
written an instant classic,
the kind that you’re almost
surprised is still being
written.’
Oek de Jong Black Barn 8
‘Reading Grunberg remains
‘A confronting and moving a tremendously exciting
portrait whose merit goes experience.’
beyond just the artistic Arnon Grunberg
quality of the production.’ Occupied Territories 10
Romana Vrede The Noble Autist 12
‘23 Seconds sounds like a
thriller, but it’s much more
than that.’
Kees van Beijnum 23 Seconds 14
‘A lively portrait of a 17th-
century businesswoman,
and a fantastic portrait of
the era.’
‘A female Bridge on the
Anneloes Timmerije
Maria’s Men 16 River Kwai.’
Henriette Roosenburg
The Walls Came Tumbling Down 18
‘Den Tex once again proves
that he can rightly be called
the Michael Crichton of the
Low Countries.’ ‘If there were a Nobel Prize
Charles den Tex A Woman Lost 20 for comics, In Holland
Suburbia would definitely
be a contender.’
Guido van Driel
In Holland Suburbia 22You can also read
