‘War and Turpentine’ number one ‘Best translated fiction book’
The British online newspaper The Independent made a selection of the best translated fiction books of the past year. War and Turpentine (Harvill Secker) by Stefan Hertmans, translated by Dave McKay, tops this list of ten titles.
The Independent: ‘Of the books collected here, ‘War and Turpentine’ is especially memorable. Many of the more contemporary authors on this list tinker with their chosen genres, experimenting with style and form. Hertmans rummages through very personal, very non-fictional histories and comes back with Joyce-like half-fictions. He gives us an elegant, devastating portrait of the grandfather he so loved and admired, sticking to non-fiction as much as he can but filling the copious blanks with his own inventions.’
world tour
With this nomination, the successful journey of War and Turpentine into the English-speaking world continues. It was shortlisted for the American Best Translated Book Awards and longlisted for The Man Booker International Prize 2017, after being named ‘One of the ten best books of 2016’ by The New York Times and ‘a future classic’ by The Guardian.
In the meantime, Stefan Hertmans travels around the world promoting his internationally successful book. In the summer of 2017, he went on a reading tour in Colombia, Monieux, Tuscany, Trieste, Opatija, Ljubljana, Graz, Zagreb, Ptuj, Austria and Düsseldorf.