18 Dutch Books You Need To Read This Spring (2021)

Why not read a book by a Dutch or Flemish author? Here you will find a selection of books that are recently translated into English, most of them with the support of the Dutch Foundation for Literature or Flanders Literature. You’ll find more translated literature in this database.

FICTION

Your Story, My Story

Author: Connie Palmen
Translator: Eileen J. Stevens & Anna Asbury
Publisher: Amazon Crossing
Original title: Jij zegt het (Prometheus, 2015)

Read our review HERE.

Shocked Earth

Author: Saskia Goldschmidt
Translator: Antoinette Fawcett
Publisher: Saraband
Original title: Schokland (Cossee, 2018)

The Melting

Author: Lize Spit
Translator: Kristen Gehrman
Publisher: Picador
Original title: Het smelt (Das Mag, 2016)

Read our review HERE.

POETRY

Two Half Faces. A Selection of the Poetry of Mustafa Stitou

Author: Mustafa Stitou
Translator: David Colmer
Publisher: Phoneme Media/Deep Vellum
Original title: A selection from: Mijn vormen (Prometheus, 1994), Mijn gedichten (Prometheus, 1998), Varkensroze ansichten (De Bezige Bij, 2003) and Tempel (De Bezige Bij, 2013)

Read a poem by Mustafa Stitou HERE.

How the Firsts Sparks Became Visible

Author: Simone Atangana Bekono
Translator: David Colmer
Publisher: The Emma Press
Original title: Hoe de eerste vonken zichtbaar waren (Lebowski, 2017)

COMICS & CHILDREN'S AND YOUTH LITERATURE

The King’s Golden Beard

Author & illustrator: Klaas Verplancke
Translator: James Brown
Publisher: Astra Publishing House

Read our article on Klaas Verplancke HERE.

Planes

Author: Jan Van der Veken
Translator: David McKay
Publisher: Prestel
Original title: Het vliegtuigenboek (Lannoo, 2019)

Talking to Alaska

Author: Anna Woltz
Translator: Laura Watkinson
Publisher: Rock the boat/Oneworld Publications
Original title: Alaska (Querido, 2016)

Where is the Dragon?

Author: Leo Timmers
Translator: James Brown
Publisher: Gecko Press
Original title: Waar is de draak? (Querido, 2019)

NONFICTION

New York

Author: Jacqueline Goossens & Tom Ronse
Translator: Liz Waters
Publisher: Hannibal
Original title: New York (Hannibal, 2020)

Venezia

Author: Serge Simonart
Translator: Liz Waters
Publisher: Hannibal
Original title: Venezia (Hannibal, 2020)

Introduction to the Academy of Painting; or, The Visible World

Author: Samuel van Hoogstraten & Celeste Brusati
Translator: Jaap A. Jacobs
Publisher: Getty Trust Publications
Original title: Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst, 1678

The Van Gogh Sisters

Author: Willem-Jan Verlinden
Translator: Brendan Monaghan, Yvette Rosenberg
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Original title: De zussen Van Gogh (Querido, 2017)

Freedom of the Border

Author: Paul Scheffer
Translator: Liz Waters
Publisher: Polity
Original title: De vorm van vrijheid (De Bezige Bij, 2018)

This Fire Never Dies. One Year With the PKK

Author: Frédérike Geerdink
Translator: Anna Asbury, Vivien D. Glass
Publisher: LeftWord Books
Original title: Dit vuur dooft nooit (Het Spectrum, 2018)

Hitler’s Horses

Author: Arthur Brand
Translator: Jane Hedley-Prole
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Original title: De paarden van Hitler (Boekerij, 2020)

The Lost Art of Doing Nothing: How the Dutch Unwind with Niksen

Author: Maartje Willems
Illustrator: Lona Aalders
Publisher: The Experiment

The Just. How six unlikely heroes saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust

Author: Jan Brokken
Translator: David McKay
Publisher: Scribe
Original title: De rechtvaardigen (Atlas Contact, 2018)

Read our article on Jan Brokken HERE.