surprises

Seems like every year the Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature (NLPVF) comes to the Frankfurt Book Fair with some very cool new idea or project. Last year it was “Great Translation by the Way” publication that set forth a series of directives for how to improve the situation for translations in the European Union. This year it’s Schwob.nl.

Schwob.nl was unveiled at a special reception at Fleming’s Hotel last night, and hinges on the idea that translations should be a two-way cultural exchange. Oftentimes, when the NLPVF people go to say, Turkey, and implore Turkish publishers to do more Dutch books, the Turkish publishers start asking questions back about how many Turkish writers are actually available in Dutch. And to no one’s surprise, “Well, um, you know, Orhan Pamuk?” doesn’t go over so well.

But beyond the role economics and corporate publishing houses play in this imbalance, there’s also the problem of information. How much information about Turkish authors is available to Dutch readers and publishers? Just guessing here, but probably not a lot. (And probably a hell of a lot more than what’s available to American readers and publishers. Anyway . . .)

So to offer a digital corrective to this problem (I don’t mean that to sound so horrifyingly medicinal), the NLPVF created schwob.nl as a site to bring info about quality literature to the attention of Dutch readers, editors, and publishers through newsletters, features on the site, etc. (And to all you Americans and Brits - I’ll let you in on a little secret: the site is entirely in English, so you can actually take advantage of this as well.)

Right now there’s only one article available on the site (click here to download the pdf: http://www.schwob.nl/about/), but it’s a very interesting piece about Chinese author Shi Tiesheng that’s written by Chinese-to-Dutch translator Mark Leenhouts and touches on some bigger issues about contemporary Chinese literature.

This site is meant to be an open forum for exchanging recommendations, so if there are any “forgotten classics, cult books, or must-reads” from your country that you want to share with Dutch readers the rest of the world, e-mail the info to write@schwob.nl. And be sure to sign up for the Schwob.nl newsletter . . .

Sandwiched between the children’s publishers and the comics area in Hall 3.0 is a hidden treasure - the Iranian Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children & Young Adults (3.0 H345) stand. Iran has a rich history of book illustration, and the artworks on display are intricate, sophisticated and of considerable variety. 

The stand also displays a wide range of different Iranian children’s books and is also selling postcards and prints of the work of Iranian illustrators.

If, like me, Iranian children’s publishing is something of a blank page for you, then you’re in for a very pleasant surprise.

If I recall correctly, Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader was the hit of the 1994 Frankfurt Book Fair. It went on to be translated into 39 languages and become the first novel by a German to hit the top of the New York Times bestseller list. A film of the book starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes is currently in production, and is due for release next year. 

There is a new book by Schlink being offered at this year’s fair. It’s a powerful work of nonfiction called Guilt about the Past. In the book, which consists of six essays based on the Weidenfeld Lectures he gave at Oxford University earlier this year, Schlink explores the phenomenon of guilt and how it attaches to a whole society, not just to individual perpetrators. He considers how to use the lesson of history to motivate individual moral behaviour, how to reconcile a guilt-laden past, the role of law in this process and how the theme of guilt influences his own fiction. 

The book is coming from an unlikely source: Australia’s University of Queensland Press (UQP). In something of a coup, the press has been granted world English language rights by the author.

Interest in the book, which will be published in Australia in January 2009, has so far been ‘white hot … and people are getting out their calculators!’ UQP’s ebullient general manager Greg Bain told me yesterday. The interest will undoubtedly shed more light on this excellent press, which for 60 years has been publishing a wide range of quality adult and youth literature, as well as academic and adult nonfiction works, from its headquarters in Brisbane, Australia.

One of my favorite accoutrement I use to navigate the Frankfurt Book Fair is the Moleskine notebook printed just for the Fair. They’re just the right size for a pocket and leave plenty of room for appointments. (Of course, they are only really useful if you buy them in advance of the Fair or on the first day).

Next year, I plan to supplement this with the new Frankfurt am Main Moleskine Citybook, printed to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the FBF. Like other editions that are already available for cities such as Paris, Berlin and New York, the book contains a good street map and sections divided for noting your itinerary, hotel information, entertainment options and your likes and dislikes. It should prove very handy if you come to Frankfurt year after year, but can’t quite remember the name and address of your favorite new drinking spot.

Bravo Moleskine, thanks for helping to make Frankfurt marginally more hip.

A novel about the last days of East Germany, Uwe Tellkamp’s Der Turm (The Tower) is this year’s winner of the 25,000 euro German Book Prize, Germany’s premier award for fiction. Notably, the novel (published by Suhrkamp) was only published in September in Germany and has yet to be published elsewhere.

‘Through the lives of a middle-class Dresden family, [Tellkamp] tells of conformity and of resistance within a system that has run its course,’ says the citation from the award’s seven judges. ‘The novel is set in very different milieus, among school students, doctors, the literati and political cadres. Uwe Tellkamp sends his rebellious hero Christian Hoffman on a journey through hell … as never before, the reader is given a true sense of the flavour, ways of speaking and mentalities in the final days of the GDR [German Democratic Republic].’

Der Turm was chosen from 161 novels published in Germany this year, and a shortlist of five.

English-language extracts and other information about the shortlisted books can be found here.