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London Book Fair 2018

Flanders Literature's team will be present at the London Book Fair (10-12 April). You’ll find our grants managers in the International Rights Centre (tables 33u/33v/34u), talking to foreign publishers about the very best Flemish authors and illustrators and providing information about funding opportunities for books in translation. This is our selection of recent books from Flanders. Please contact us for an appointment if you like what you see. We’d love to meet you.


  • Cover Bread
    Cover Bread
    Bread
    Haunting. With short chapters, Elvis Peeters keeps the reader in a stranglehold.
    Cutting Edge

    A boy grows up in a village where war threatens. Then, the supermarket at which the boy works is bombed into the ground. Leaving is now the only option. In confident, crystal-clear language, ‘Bread’ tells the gripping, poetic coming-of-age story of a boy who is not given the chance to enjoy his youth.

  • Cover North
    Cover North
    North
    Wild, dark, romantic and almost addictively well-written ****
    Focus Knack

    ‘North’ is a carefully crafted and addictively well-written debut novel about ‘indecision in the choice’: the choice between two men, between art and life, between Vancouver and the harsh life in the north, and between the musical styles that are entwined with each location.

  • Cover Beauty Will Rage Within Me Until the Day I Die
    Cover Beauty Will Rage Within Me Until the Day I Die
    Beauty Will Rage Within Me Until the Day I Die
    A sardonic roller coaster
    Knack

    In the world of ‘Beauty will rage within me until the day I die’, everything is returned to ashes by warfare. Everything, except for the memory of what once was humanity and the sense of humor that Hazim Kamaledin uses to describe the fate of his deceased doppelgänger.

  • Cover Who Was the Hat Maker?
    Cover Who Was the Hat Maker?
    Who Was the Hatter?
    A marvel of penmanship *****
    De Volkskrant

    Twelve years after they had a short-lived but passionate relationship, the reserved Hermine and the tormented, suicidal writer Didier, drive to a conference in Vienna together. In this autobiographical love tragedy, Zvonik investigates with a delicate pen and psychological finesse to what extent it is possible to love someone, while at the same time keeping your distance.

  • Cover Misery Loves Company. A Life In Stories
    Cover Misery Loves Company. A Life In Stories
    Misery Loves Company. A Life In Stories
    Incredible to see how much beauty someone can produce in half a century
    De Telegraaf

    Hugo Claus is the internationally acclaimed author of dozens of plays, novels and collections of poetry. But over the course of 50 years he also wrote many short stories. A half-century filled with grotesque nightmares and charming scenes of love and loss, with mysterious and comical characters populating Claus’ characteristic bitter-sweet world.

  • Cover The Global Sixties. A Cultural History
    Cover The Global Sixties. A Cultural History
    The Global Sixties. A Cultural History
    Magnificent book that honours all these coloured voices that are so often left out of the narrative
    vileine.com (Hadjar Benmiloud)

    A unique cultural history of the 1960s as a global phenomenon. This book deals with the usual counterculture suspects and the Flower Power generation, as well as the sensitivities and tastes of what American President Nixon called the Silent Majority. It takes into account the work of artists from Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia in a dazzling overview that puts the Sixties in a new perspective.

  • Cover The Excess of Empathy. Towards a Functional Indifference
    Cover The Excess of Empathy. Towards a Functional Indifference
    The Excess of Empathy. Towards a Functional Indifference
    A multifaceted and nuanced book about a current topic
    Trouw

    In times in which social contrasts and social inequality are becoming more and more pronounced, there are loud calls for more empathy. But is empathy always good? Or can we have too much of it? Ignaas Devisch challenges us to reconsider our view of humanity: deep down, aren’t we all not just friends but scoundrels as well?

  • Cover Dirty Sheets
    Cover Dirty Sheets
    Dirty Sheets. A Contemporary View on Sexuality
    A shamelessly intelligent book about sex
    De Standaard

    Sex is everywhere. On television, on the streets, on social media – there’s no escaping it. In this book the authors show that our supposed sexual freedom is an illusion. They explore history, culture and science, and their own experiences, to discover the things that restrict our bodies. A real treasure-chest of knowledge which covers many of our unnecessary embarrassments on sexuality.

  • Cover Spoiler
    Cover Spoiler
    Spoiler. On television series and world literature
    Thought-provoking perspectives and choices
    Cutting Edge

    Television series - one of the most important mainstream media - continue the debate initiated by the great classics of world literature. In light-hearted essays leavened with humour, Cloostermans identifies connections between television series and literary classics and analyses what they say about our age and about universal human themes such as identity, meaning and (self-)improvement.

  • Cover Round the Block
    Cover Round the Block
    Round the Block
    Her illustrations are delicate, intimate and extremely beautiful.
    The Guardian on ‘When David Lost His Voice’

    In this stunning visual tour-de-force, much-lauded cartoonist and illustrator Judith Vanistendael reinvents herself. She returns to the essence: armed with scissors, glue, paper and a risograph printer, she creates the purest sequence possible. ‘Round the Block’ is an ode to fantasy and Vanistendael’s more than successful debut for a new target audience.

     

  • Cover Wish You Were Here
    Cover Wish You Were Here
    Wish You Were Here
    An unbelievably beautiful book. A unique, authentic voice in Flemish literature.
    Mappalibri

    With a great sense of humour and a lightness of touch Evelien De Vlieger paints the portrait of a girl on the cusp of life, who thinks she wants to forget. ‘Wish You Were Here’ is about facing yourself, about letting go, and about daring to admit that you can’t. A bitter-sweet book full of lust for life.

  • Cover Rising High
    Cover Rising High
    Rising High
    Extraordinary, colourful and imaginative
    Alliteratus

    In this two-metre-long colourful leporello, teeming with details and humour, we follow a girl and a boy on their voyage of discovery through a skyscraper and meet its remarkable residents. An enchanting wordless book that doubles as a measuring chart and exudes imagination and joyfulness.

  • Cover Mrs Winter’s Hearth Fire
    Cover Mrs Winter’s Hearth Fire
    Mrs Winter’s Hearth Fire
    A dazzling imaginary world full of colours and scents
    Ons Erfdeel

    In ‘Mrs Winter’s Hearth Fire’, a collection of 37 short stories about winter, Carl Norac and Gerda Dendooven give both a voice and a face to the year’s coldest season. They make winter sound and look radiant like never before. ‘Mrs Winter’s Hearth Fire’ celebrates winter in all its facets.

  • Cover I Am Happy
    Cover I Am Happy
    Nellie & Cezar
    The illustrations are a feast of detail with lots of bright, cheerful colours.
    De Leeswelp

    Nellie the Mouse and Cezar the Frog have been inseparable for over twenty years and are best friends to little children. There’s a whole string of books and other publications around these two figures: from picture, text and activity books to a television series and hand puppets. Ingrid Godon and Bette Westera have now joined forces to give the franchise a fresh new overhaul.