Free online course from the ELV – Getting started in Literary Translation

The Expertise Centrum Literaire Vertalen (ELV) of Utrecht University has recently put out a free online course on getting started in literary translation, called "Kennismaking met literair vertalen" (available in Dutch only). They asked me to offer my two cents in Part 4: The Translator as Entrepreneur. It's a great series, offering a ton of insight and advice from translators from Dutch to all different languages. If you're just starting out in literary translation (or curious about how other translators work), be sure to check it out!

The Tree and the Vine nominated for the Vondel Prize

My English translation of The Tree and the Vine by Dola de Jong, published by Transit Books, is one of nine books longlisted for the Vondel Prize, a biannual award for Dutch literature in translation.

Cover The Tree and the Vine by Dola de Jong

Translator’s Note on Literary Hub

The translator's note that I wrote for the Tree and the Vine by Dola de Jong has been adapted and published on LitHub. I learned so much working on this project and am grateful to have a publisher so committed to translator visibility. You can read the full article HERE.

Great reviews for Dola de Jong!

My English translation of Dola de Jong's Dutch post-war classic, The Tree and the Vine [De thuiswacht], published by the wonderful Transit Books, came out in May! It was an absolute honor to translate this stunning and important work. So far, the translation has received glowing reviews in The New York Times, Harper's Magazine and The Paris Review. I couldn't be more thrilled to see Dola finally get the attention she deserves! You can order the book from your local bookstore or on the Transit Books website.

Translator in residence at the Vertalershuis Antwerpen

This past January, I was lucky enough to spend time in Antwerp as a translator in residence at the Vertalershuis, a beautiful haven for literary translators working on books by Flemish authors, sponsored by Flanders Literature. It was a wonderful opportunity to get away and spend more time with my current book translation, Het smelt by Lize Spit. I wrote a little post about my experience for their website. You can read it here in English and here in Dutch.

The Son and Heir, now available for pre-order!

It turns out that the word "stamhouder" isn't so easy to translate into English. A "stam" is the trunk of a tree--a family tree in this case--and a "houder" is the one who keeps it. In other words, a stamhouder is the last branch, the keeper of the family line, the inheritor of its name, history and legacy. Since we don't have a single-word equivalent in English, my translation of Alexander Münninghoff's Libris History Prize-winning memoir, De Stamhouder, is aptly titled The Son and Heir. Written by the son of a Nazi, the grandson of one of the wealthiest men in Europe, and the heir to a (very!) complicated legacy, this true story traces a multi-generational family history from Eastern to Western Europe, through the Roaring Twenties, WWII and beyond. Published by Amazon Crossing. Now available for pre-order!

The Boy Between Worlds now available for pre-order!

I'm excited to announce that my English translation of the Dutch bestseller Sonny Boy by Annejet van der Zijl is now available for pre-order! The English translation, titled The Boy Between Worlds (AmazonCrossing), will be officially published in the United States on August 1, 2019.

10 Books from Holland!

I was delighted to translate the Spring 2019 edition of 10 Books from Holland for the Dutch Foundation for Literature. It just came out and boy is it a beauty! This season's selection includes the new Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer novel Grand Hotel Europa (if you haven't read it yet, you should!), Driessen's latest collection of short stories (that one about the guy diving off his boat for a swim and suddenly realizing he's all alone and can't climb back on!?), Auke Hulst's examination of Nixon (as a person rather than as a president), a magnum opus from 1970s Curaçao, a story of a girl whose mission in life is to find other people's lost stuff, and many more. If you're attending the London Book Fair this year, you might be able to snag a copy. Otherwise, download the pdf HERE!

Translating Revolutionary Road

This year I had the pleasure of working with award-winning Dutch actor Jacob Derwig on the translation of his marvellous play Revolutionary Road, based on the classic American novel by Richard Yates. The fact that Yates's novel was originally written in English and Jacob's stage adaptation of it was written in Dutch made for a fascinating literary translation process. In some ways, the project was a kind of back-translation—taking Jacob's excellent Dutch stage adaptation of Yates's prose and converting it "back" into Yatesian English while still staying true to the playwright's vision.

ELV Zomercursus Literair Vertalen 2017

From August 21st to 25th, I had the tremendous pleasure of participating in the ELV Summer School for Literary Translation in Utrecht. This year, the week-long intensive course put the spotlight on three languages into which there is a growing demand for translated Dutch literature: French, Turkish and English. As English translators, we learned all about intertextuality, translator agency, and unravelling the layers of difficult texts in masterclasses with award-winning translators Susan Massotty, Sam Garrett and Michele Hutchinson.