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Netherlands

Black-and-white image of a Surinamese party in the Netherlands
Rob Mieremet / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Jaguar Man
By Raoul de Jong
In this excerpt from the memoir Jaguarman, Dutch writer Raoul de Jong explores the colonization of Suriname, the immigrant experience in the Netherlands, racism, and the lionization of major Black American figures such as James Baldwin and Malcolm X…
Translated from Dutch by Jake Goldwasser
Multilingual
Left, a black-and-white portrait of Kate Briggs; right, the cover of her novel The Long Form
“A Hidden but Necessary Labor”: Kate Briggs on Translation and Parenthood
By Lauren Goldenberg
In this wide-ranging conversation with Lauren Goldenberg, Kate Briggs discusses her recent novel, The Long Form, and considers the parallels between two overlooked forms of labor: translation and parenthood.
The covers of the thirteen books featured in the list arranged in three rows and overlapping slightly
Foodie World Kid Lit: Food and Eating in International Children’s and YA Literature
By Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
Join Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp on a mouth-watering tour of four continents through thirteen picture books, middle grade and YA fiction, and graphic novels.
At left a portrait of Dutch writer Astrid Roemer author of National Book Award for Translated Literature...
The National Book Award Interviews: Astrid Roemer on On a Woman’s Madness
By Words Without Borders
“There is a sense of hidden English in my novels because of my family circumstances.”
Multimedia
Family in a tunnel
Photo by Lute on Unsplash
Because of a Woman: Two Poems
By Babeth Fonchie Fotchind
I would praise your bravery when you were twenty-eight / when you boarded an airbus a330 a child in tow
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
Shadows in a dark room
Photo by Parker Coffman on Unsplash
Ancestors: Two Poems
By Alfred Schaffer
well you’re right we’re stone dead / nothing to worry about
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
MultimediaMultilingual
A flowering wisteria branch
Photo by Owen Yin on Unsplash
Black and White: Three Poems
By Nisrine Mbarki
they speak different languages but will learn each other’s
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
Multilingual
The covers of the ten books featured in the gift guide
Your 2022 Holiday Gift Guide to Reading in Translation
By Isabella Corletto
Ten recent books in translation that the readers in your life are sure to enjoy this holiday season.
Late evening view on a bridge leading to Dutch countryside houses
Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash
Welcome to the Real Holland
By Rodaan Al Galidi
When they chucked me out in the middle of the goddamn winter, you gave me your coat and seven euros.
Translated from Dutch by Jonathan Reeder
Theo
By Fahmi Mustaffa
I'm not like you, Pak.
Translated from Malay by Adriana Nordin Manan
A Pun, an Idiom, and an Expletive Walk into a Bar: International Humor
By Susan Harris
When we think of translating humor, we may think in terms of capturing jokes.
Safely Home: Short Prose from the Netherlands and Flanders
By Victor Schiferli & Sanneke van Hassel
What are the things that can’t be mentioned?
Ketamine
By Thijs de Boer
“I’ve lost Mom’s grave at cards.”
Translated from Dutch by Liz Waters
The Way to the Sea
By Elke Geurts
It hadn’t been moving as it was getting pushed out.
Translated from Dutch by Hester Velmans
Sand
By Mensje van Keulen
“Virgin eh? If you shout I’ll cut your throat.”
Translated from Dutch by Ina Rilke
Ten Floors
By Ton Rozeman
The Internet no longer suffices; real life beckons.
Translated from Dutch by Liz Waters
Dead Men Always Win
By Walter van den Berg
So you wouldn’t care if I crashed my car into a tree?
Translated from Dutch by Laura Watkinson
Craving
By Esther Gerritsen
“You’re not likely to live a long time with something like this.”
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
The Virgin Marino
By Yves Petry
Marino picks up the two lengths of rope on the table and ties the man’s wrists to the rings.
Translated from Dutch by Hester Velmans
White Feather
By Sanneke van Hassel
I said, “I love you. “Oh, my sweet,” she replied.
Translated from Dutch by Liz Waters
from “Tooth and Nail”
By Arnon Grunberg
“Did you tell him? My boyfriend is at a conference about the Holocaust.”
Translated from Dutch by Sam Garrett
The Bearded Lady
By Annelies Verbeke
“One of us, one of us,” the photos chanted.
Translated from Dutch by Liz Waters
The Ohio Hat
By Anton Valens
I passed by the bed from time to time to check whether he was still alive.
Translated from Dutch by David McKay
Canoes
By Maartje Wortel
I work out like I swear: plenty and often.
Translated from Dutch by David Doherty
Fucked Up
By Manon Uphoff
Some stories I make up and others gnaw their way out from inside.
Translated from Dutch by David Doherty
For an Easy Life
By Peter Terrin
She said that he could at least have the politeness to let her finish.
Translated from Dutch by David Colmer
On Tao Qian
By Nachoem M. Wijnberg
He writes the way someone who is no longer impatient speaks.
Translated from Dutch by David Colmer
Multilingual
Du Fu
By Nachoem M. Wijnberg
Every word Du Fu uses, he read somewhere.
Translated from Dutch by David Colmer
Multilingual
Su Dongpo and the Trick he says he Learned from Tao Qian
By Nachoem M. Wijnberg
More to see left and right than he can list.
Translated from Dutch by David Colmer
Multilingual
Dummy Run
By René Appel
Actually the thought of any kind of sport filled him with violent distaste
Translated from Dutch by the author
Room
By Nyk de Vries
In that town there was a room I kept circling.
Translated from Dutch by David Colmer
A Journey to Spitsbergen
By Cees Nooteboom
On the flight from Oslo to Tromsø, two worlds: the land far below me, the map on my lap.
Translated from Dutch by Liedewy Hawke
Counterpoint
By Anna Enquist
AriaThe woman with the pencil leaned over the table to read a pocket score of the Goldberg Variations. The pencil was made of special black wood. It had a heavy silver cap that concealed a pencil sharpener.…
Translated from Dutch by Jeannette K. Ringold
“Arnold . . . !”
By Astrid Roemer
She's wondering how to tell his children when an immense silence numbs her.
Translated from Dutch by Laura Vroomen
From “Comfort”
By Ronald Giphart
In previous centuries practically everybody got a regular and considerable dose of mind expansion because practically everybody ate rye bread.
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
The End of Amsterdam’s Hunger Winter
By Robert Menasse
The ape brought us the food, Father said and added, after a pause, and a book.
Translated from German by Ross Benjamin
From “Friends for Four Years”
By Anja Sicking
Edo was standing next to her, half a head taller, his arm wrapped firmly around her so she wouldn't blow away even though there was no wind.
Translated from Dutch by Sherry Marx
The East
By Lieve Joris
Zikiya's Rwanda was a mythical, pre-colonial state with customs his ancestors had brought into the mountains along with their herds, where they'd become hopelessly outdated over the years.
Translated from Dutch by Liz Waters
Quiet
By Nachoem M. Wijnberg
Quiet, you say. /     I hardly hear you.
Translated from Dutch by David Colmer
Song
By Nachoem M. Wijnberg
I saw a shop / went in and bought / something I had forgotten / I already had.
Translated from Dutch by David Colmer
From “May the Sun Shine Tomorrow”
By Abdelkader Benali
Malik Ben weighed 300 pounds on the day he decided to have his name removed from the Yellow Pages.
Translated from Dutch by Susan Massotty
Shreds
By Ellen Ombre
I come from Spite and Remorse.
Translated from Dutch by David Colmer
Special Section: Poland Unplugged
By Alissa Valles
On the other hand, maybe poetry can flout its own time, its own conventions, pieties, syntactical laws, aesthetic (anesthetic) canons and going definitions and habits. These are a few poets who think…
Translated from Polish
From “The Asylum Seeker”
By Arnon Grunberg
I thought you wanted to share me with everyone.
Translated from Dutch by Sam Garrett
Eagles
By Kader Abdolah
My father was born in one of those villages, and my brother lies buried in the mountains.
Translated from Dutch by Peter Constantine
[Nowhere has denying]
By Hans Faverey
God, what a down-at-heel hope / for a voiceless evaporation
Translated from Dutch by Francis R. Jones
[Yesterday, yes, I still existed here]
By Hans Faverey
Go on, admit it: / yesterday you also existed here,
Translated from Dutch by Francis R. Jones
[With one hand in my lap]
By Hans Faverey
It is one moonless evening.
Translated from Dutch by Francis R. Jones
[Since nobody was there anyway]
By Hans Faverey
it's time for a walk once again / along the brink of the beach, where all / of a sudden the woods held back
Translated from Dutch by Francis R. Jones
[One fine day it was night]
By Hans Faverey
It was too late / to unbait my hook.
Translated from Dutch by Francis R. Jones
[If later, or sooner, it is]
I might as well go to sea: /to let oneself be blown away.
Translated from Dutch by Francis R. Jones
[“Then they went away too”]
By Hans Faverey
Hardly had I known them. / I also hardly stayed behind.
Translated from Dutch by Francis R. Jones
[As simple as a drop of water]
By Hans Faverey
As simple as a drop of water, / as clear as a splinter of birch,
Translated from Dutch by Francis R. Jones
From “Cuneiform”
By Kader Abdolah
She felt a heavy load on her shoulders. She couldn't eat, and she began to weep.
Translated from Dutch by Sam Garrett
Freedom Can Be a Nightmare: An Interview with Kader Abdolah
By Frits Abrahams
An exile's life is unstable. Ruled by fear, especially when you're so deeply involved with a language.
Translated from Dutch