Just got my advance reader’s copies in of Saskia Noort’s Tinder thriller, which I translated into English in 2020. I’d been translating short stories and samples for Lebowski/Overamstel for some time already. They had high hopes for Bonuskind, and we agreed I would make sure the English version was ready for the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. Unfortunately, the event had to be cancelled that year due to COVID. Super happy The Grown-Up found a home after all at Amazon Crossing!
Dublin Literary Award longlist
Thrilled to see my translation of Elle Van Rijn’s wonderful novel was longlisted for a Dublin Literary Award. Thank you so much for the nomination, Bibliotheek Utrecht
The Orphans of Amsterdam
Got a copy of the book I translated in the mail today! Van Rijn’s The Orphans of Amsterdam (‘De crèche’ in Dutch) is a historical novel set in Amsterdam during the German occupation and tells the story of Elizabeth Oudkerk, a young nursery school teacher working at the nursery on Plantage Middenlaan opposite the Hollandsche Schouwburg, where Jewish people awaiting deportation were kept by the Nazis. During the war, the nursery served as an annex to the theatre for keeping the children of those who had been imprisoned or killed, but it was also a site of resistance: at great personal risk, the nursery staff worked with people of the Dutch resistance to help Jewish children find families to go into hiding and avoid deportation. It is a story of bravery and humanity in history’s darkest hour, and I am honoured to have done my part in giving this story the wider readership it deserves.
2.3.74 Magazine for grounded SF
Issue number 4 of 2.3.74, Lebowski Publishers’ literary magazine for grounded sci-fi from the Netherlands and Flanders, is out now. The term ‘grounded sci-fi’ is generally taken as referring to speculative fiction that is set in a near, technologically conceivable future (this, as opposed to space operas and the like). This issue features two stories I translated: Tomorrow I Will Kiss You by Bertram Koeleman and Island Y by Anne Moraal. The first is set in a world where speech is prohibited and people communicate solely through a form of telepathic technology. The plot centres on a divorce, and Koeleman explores how it is that we cope with grief and loss when there are no words. In Moraal’s story, global warming has resulted in melting glaciers and rising sea levels. When an island off the coast of Africa is swallowed by the sea, Ken Butter, the climate scientist who predicted the event, gains a mass following and becomes a messianic cult figure for those hoping to survive the coming flood. His motives, however, turn out to be less than benevolent. 2.3.74 is available in print and can be read online. The stories in 2.3.74 #4 can also be listened to in spoken form, voiced by Joshua Baumgarten, and streamed from the website or most podcast platforms.