Go Dutch! is a major new campaign to raise awareness of Dutch literature in translation.
The initiative will highlight the work of eight authors all of whom are bestsellers in their native country.
Between now and spring 2010 the writers will be visiting the UK to take part in literary events around the country including festivals in Liverpool, Manchester, Durham, Ilkley, Birmingham and Essex. Some will be working directly with young British writers, for example with the Writing Squad in Yorkshire and on the University of Warwick's Writing Programme.
The initiative has been launched with the backing of publishers and developed by the Amsterdam-based Foundation for the Promotion and Translation of Dutch Literature (NLPVF) and Midland Creative Projects (based in Birmingham).
A taste of the authors' writing will be showcased in a hundred-page sampler to be distributed up and down the country via readers' groups, libraries, literary festivals and a selection of independent bookshops. Alternatively, you can download the sampler here, or from the NLPVF website.
Download the Go Dutch! sampler (Adobe Acrobat .doc 2Mb)
'The Netherlands is blessed with many wonderful writers,' says Mireille Berman, Head of International Literary Projects at the NLPVF. 'The Go Dutch! project will give many UK readers the opportunity to read the work of, and meet, some of our country's finest contemporary writers.'
Prize-winning author Otto de Kat praised the project: 'Britain is the homeland of fiction, so for a Dutch author it's of the utmost significance to be published in the English language. It's wonderful to be welcomed by publishers, booksellers, critics and readers, and I do hope we can show them that there is something going on in the provinces of literature outside their splendid island!'
The titles and authors involved in the project are:
Amuse-Bouche by Arnon Grunberg (Comma Press)
Man on the Move by Otto de Kat (MacLehose Press)
People Like Us: The Truth About Reporting the Middle East by Joris Luyendijk (Reportage Press)
An Island in Time; In Europe; and The Bridge by Geert Mak (all Vintage)
The Free Negress Elisabeth by Cynthia Mc Leod (Arcadia)
About Love and Nothing Else; and The Squirrel's Birthday and Other Parties by Toon Tellegen (Shoestring Press and Boxer Books)
Engineers of the Soul; and Ararat by Frank Westerman (Harvill Secker/Vintage)
Joe Speedboat by Tommy Wieringa (Portobello Books)
For more information about the Go Dutch! campaign and the authors taking part, visit the NLPVF website
