Michaël Olbrechts: “A translation is an increase in scale”

In May, Flanders Literature’s very first Translators Week took place. Ten new translators from Dutch had the chance to get to know Flemish literature. As part of the programme, journalist Kurt Snoeckx interviewed author Michaël Olbrechts and translator Laurent Bayer.

Michaël Olbrechts is an author of comic books and a freelance illustrator. His stories are about the often uneasy dynamic between people. Both his characters and his stories concern the human condition. His most recent work, ‘Galapagos’ (2023), was nominated for the Boon Literature Prize. An extract from an earlier book, ‘The Heron’s Nest’, was translated into French by translator Laurent Bayer, with whom he was interviewed on Thursday 16 May by Kurt Snoeckx.

“With comic books you have absolute control over the reader, because you create both the text and the pictures and therefore have complete command of the rhythm of the reading experience. So I’m a megalomaniac (laughs). And I can choose for myself where to add something extra, in the text or in the image.”

“That doesn’t concern me in the least. The question of whether comics are real literature is a source of lively discussion for the press and bookshops, but not for me, nor for most readers. What makes a good book makes comic books good too. Which is to say, characters you can empathize with, and a plot that touches you emotionally or teaches you something new. In an attempt to give the genre greater cachet, people increasingly use the term ‘graphic novel’, but you can carry on calling my books comics. There is one thing I’ve noticed. After the nomination of ‘Galapagos’ for the 2024 Boon Prize, the book turned up in bookshops that hadn’t stocked it at first. So a literary prize like that does have an impact.”

“A translation is an increase in scale, and therefore at the very least commercially interesting. The French market is definitely important for comic books; it’s not just far bigger than the Flemish market, it’s also a reference point for many other languages. Of course as an author you hope that your books will be translated and therefore reach more readers. Most important for me is that the atmosphere and the recognizability of the story are preserved. To achieve that, it’s important to have faith in the skill of the translator. I often refer to songs or tunes, for example, because they contribute to the atmosphere. For a translator it can be quite a challenge to find something comparable in the target language.”

Laurent Bayer is a translator from Dutch into French who translates both graphic novels and picture books. For several years he has been the regular translator of picture books by Leo Timmers. In 2020 he received a grant from Flanders Literature for the translation into French of a sample from ‘The Heron’s Nest’ by Michaël Olbrechts. The story is about Arend, who because of events at work needs to escape for a bit and goes to stay with his aunt and her husband. He searches for answers and solutions by taking walks in nature. Along the way he comes upon a mysterious heron’s nest and the gardener Anton. But more than anything else, Arend rediscovers himself in his urge to get the best out of his body and to become a different person.

“Firstly, the story touched me as a reader. It’s about an introverted central character, and I recognized myself in that. Secondly, it appealed to me as a translator. I translate a lot of picture books and comics, and they don’t always contain very much text. This story does. On top of that, I’d earlier translated ‘Outburst’ by Pieter Coudyzer, which has a similar theme.”

“A grant for a sample translation obliges you as a translator to draw up a promotion plan as well as doing the translation work. Most translators are not good salespeople. So for an introverted person like me, it’s a challenge to be a literary promoter. It’s not always easy to draw attention to a book and so far I haven’t found a publisher, but it’s certainly been very productive. By actively promoting the book and the translation, I’ve come into contact with publishers and other professionals in the book trade. As a result of those contacts I’m now translating books by Leo Timmers, for example. Another advantage of the grant is that Flanders Literature is actively using the sample translation to promote the books and so to reach foreign publishers. And that’s good promotion for me in turn.”