Translators on a mission to promote books from Flanders
Ten translators are to receive a €750 grant for a sample translation of a work of Flemish literature. Flanders Literature wants to support the translators in their ongoing development while at the same time building on and diversifying the promotion of Flemish literature abroad.
The translators are expected to actively approach foreign publishers with their sample, so they will hopefully be commissioned to translate the entire book. One of the translators to do so last year was Gonzalo Fernández Gómez, who received a grant for an excerpt from Leen Huet’s biography of Pieter Bruegel. He is currently translating the book into Spanish for Acantilado.
Variety
A total of 21 applications were submitted during the first round of 2020. Flanders Literature assessed them both on their merits and within the context of its available budget. In doing so, it seeks to achieve a balance of target languages, genres, source texts and translators.
Ten promising projects were selected. Ewa Dynarowicz will be translating a piece from Charlotte Van den Broeck’s ‘Bold Ventures’ into Polish, while a sample from ‘Ironhead’ by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem will be translated into both Italian and French (by Olga Amagliani and Myriam Bouzid respectively). An overview of all translators and their projects can be found in the PDF below.