zaterdag 3 december 2016

Best Seven

The German translation of THE CANCERCHAMPIONSHIP FOR JUNIORS, the book that I wrote with Roy Looman (it's based on the story of his life) was chosen as one of the Besten Sieben in December 2016 (the seven best children's and young adultbooks, chosen by 29 jurors from Germany, Austria and Switzerland). That's a big honour!
The book was translated by Rolf Erdorf and in German it's called KREBSMEISTERSCHAFT FÜR ANFÄNGER (Carlsen Verlag).

The rights for this book can be seen here.
This book is promoted by the Dutch Literary Fund, so foreign publishers could apply for translation and production grants here

donderdag 17 november 2016

Interview auf Deutsch - in German

Copyright: Jelina Berzkalns.
At the Bookfair in Frankfurt 2016, some weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Ute Wegmann. She interviewed me several times, and one of those interviews can be read online, in German.
It's the transcript of the talk Rold Erdorf (my translater) and me had for a radiostation called Deutschlandradio. It was nice to be a guest in lovely Ute Wegmanns show!

Here is the interview. 

vrijdag 11 november 2016

SAM IN THE US

Last week my first book about the dog Sam came out in the United States. In Dutch it's called TOEN KWAM SAM and in the version that Eerdmans' Publishing House issued it's named A DOG LIKE SAM. It was beautifully translated by David Colmer, and of course the original illustrations by Philip Hopman are included.
Next year also the second volume about the dog will be published!

The book came out in Holland in 2011 and was awarded with the Zilveren Griffel (Silver Slate) one year later. Further editions are the French, the German, the Estonian and the South-African one, where it was published in all the official eleven languages of the country.
Rights can be seen here, and the Dutch Literary Fund is giving out grants for the translation of this book (and others).

vrijdag 4 november 2016

PREMIERE IN BERLIN

Friday afternoon, the 4th of November: that's the date for the premiere of  LENA UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DER BLAUEN HIRSCHE, a children's musical play in the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. It's music theatre, performed by a puppeteer, a singer and two musicians.
The play was written by Annechien Koerselman, and Händels music is being used, as well as new compositions by Sebastian Hanusa.

The play is based on the German version of my book DERTIEN RENNENDE HERTJES (THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER). I made this book with illustrator Mattias De Leeuw and it was published by De Eenhoorn in Flanders, Belgium. The German version was translated by Rolf Erdorf and issued by Gerstenberg.

Interested in going? Look at this website for information: the Deutsche Oper.

maandag 24 oktober 2016

GERMAN LITERATURE AWARD

It was an incredible afternoon, last Friday. The German Literature Awards were given out, and after having been already very, very happy with a nomination in the picture-book-category, we were absolutely thrilled to hear the titel of our book being announced as the winner.

'We' is the team behind DER HUND, DEN NINO NICHT HATTE, the German  translation of THE DOG THAT NINO DIDN'T HAVE (HET HONDJE DAT NINO NIET HAD). Translater Rolf Erdorf, myself and mostly the illustrator: Anton Van Hertbruggen.
Previously he was rewarded with major prizes in Belgium, The Netherlands, France and the USA, all for this book.

The book is published in Germany by Bohem Press (Annabel Lammers and her team), and international rights were also sold to USA, Denmark, France, Brazil, China, Korea and Russia.
For the rights to other languagues, please contact the original publisher De Eenhoorn, at this page. Or write directly to sarah.claeys@eenhoorn.be.
The Flemish Literature Fund could help by providing a translation grant.   

woensdag 19 oktober 2016

VISITING FRANKFURT & JUGENDLITERATURPREIS

'This is what we share' is the theme that sums up all the activities Holland and Flanders organise at the Bookfair in Frankfurt this year. 'We' are Guest of Honor, and over seventy writers and illustrators are invited. I will be attending the fair from Thursday the 20th of October til Sunday the 23rd.
There will be many talks & interviews & book signings. The talks mostly will be about my latest youth book; KREBSMEISTERSCHAFT FÜR ANFÄNGER (THE CANCER CHAMPIONSHIP FOR JUNIORS, written with Roy Looman, translated by Rolf Erdorf and issued by Carlsen Verlag).

One event is extra thrilling: this Friday the winners of the German Literature Prize will be named. Illustrator Anton Van Hertbruggen and me are nominated for our picture book THE DOG THAT NINO DIDN'T HAVE. (Published by Bohem Press, translated by Rolf Erdorf) Many other wonderful picture books are nominated, so we won't win the award, but still: exciting!

donderdag 13 oktober 2016

ESTONIA AND THE OKAPI

Last year our non-fiction book STEM OP DE OKAPI (VOTE FOR THE OKAPI) came out in Holland and now it travels to Estonia. The book was richely illustrated by the great Martijn van der Linden and contains a warm plea for this shy but majestic animal. There are many, many drawings, there are interviews, poems, historical parts, lyrical descriptions, there is an Okapi Museum - and Martijn and I received the Woutertje Pieterse Award (best book of the year, experts' choice) for it, as well as a Zilveren Griffel (for the text) and an Honorary Mention (for the illustrations).
Publishing house Päike ja Pilv will issue the book in Estonia. Before they did my two books about the dog Sam. As those two, VOTE FOR THE OKAPI will be translated by Kerti Tergem.
Rights for the book can be negotiated here, and translation grants can be requested here.

vrijdag 7 oktober 2016

NEW BOOK OUT!

There it is - the newest picture book that I got to write the text for. It's the stunning debut of Suzan T'Hooft: HET IS RAAK! which translates as BULLSEYE!
It's about those two shy bears - who are in love, but they don't dare to admit that. They have groups of friends around them that try to make them get closer to each other, but that plan doesn't turn out too good.
BULLSEYE! is a visually overwhelming picturebook, a true grand entrance in the children's books world by a very promising illustrator.
It was published by De Eenhoorn and rights can be seen here

donderdag 1 september 2016

INTERVIEW AT THE BERLIN LITERATURE FESTIVAL

Last year I was in Berlin, during the Literaturfestival Berlin - and it turned out to be one of the best weeks of the year. I love this festival and the people that work so hard to make it an awesome event.
During the festival Birte Hendricks talked to some writers about their job (the series is called 'Voices' and other interviews feature illustrators and authors like Patrick Ness, Jon Klassen and Kaatje Vermeire). These interviews came online just now. You'll find mine below.
Thanks, Birte. Good - and tough - questions...




zaterdag 27 augustus 2016

THERE IT IS - A NEW BOOK WITH FLOOR DE GOEDE

I have enjoyed working with illustrator Floor de Goede already for many years. We made a series of comic poems together (and working on a third volume) and also a series of children's books about Sofie who is the biggest fan of penguins you could find.
But now a whole new book came out: IK BEN BIJ DE DINOSAURUSSEN GEWEEST (I was with the dinosaurs). It's a picture book about a boy that finds his favourite book: one about dinosaurs. But what happens when his family is a bit less interested?

The book came out at publishing house Querido, in Amsterdam, and the rights can be viewed here.
There are beautiful wide spreads full of dinosaurs - some examples go below (click to enlarge).

I am pretty proud of this new book by Floor.
Hopefully many kids (5 years old and up) will enjoy this colourful hommage to the world of imagination.

   

zondag 7 augustus 2016

NEW BOOK IN GERMANY

This month a new youth book of mine came out in German. Publishing house Carlsen Verlag issued KREBSMEISTERSCHAFT FÜR ANFÄNGER, the German thranslation (by the great translator Rolf Erdorf), which is based on the true life story of Roy Looman (now 21, in the story he is fifteen years old). The original title, published by Querido in Amsterdam is HET KANKERKAMPIOENSCHAP VOOR JUNIOREN.

Roy told me his life story in over fourty sessions. He got cancer when he was 15 years old, at a time where he was mainly playing soccer with his friends, working in a supermarket, going to school, having fun, trying to kiss as many girls as he could. The impact it had on his life and on his mind is in the book - and the story is told in a very direct, strong way. It moves from heartfelt to extremely funny (Roy has a great sense of humour), from the start of the disease to the end, and even after that - and we get to know everything, including pretty private episodes. It's amazing what Roy dared to tell, but it's part of his mission: make people aware of what cancer can do to a young mind, in a negative ánd in a positive way. I'm very proud that Roy let me use his voice for this swinging, fast-paced, but yet elaborate novel. It's certainly not a sad book, and this is proven by the first line: 'This must be the sickest game I have ever played. But I can't stand losing, so let me tell you upfront: I'm not going to die.'
 
This book is promoted by the Dutch Literary Fund, so foreign publishers could apply for translation and production grants here.

maandag 1 augustus 2016

VLOG FROM ESTONIA

I love bookbloggers and bookvloggers. I think they are important. And maybe I love them even more when they are from Estonia. I don't know what 'MannuMiner' tells us about my Sam-books, but it must be nice, since the title of her vlog is 'Minu lemmikud raamatud?' which translates as 'My favorite books?'

The Sam-books, TOEN KWAM SAM (SAM SHOWED UP) and DE RAADSELS VAN SAM (SAMS MYSTERIES) were richly illustrated by Philip Hopman, first issued by Querido in Holland, and published by Päike ja Pilv in Estonia, translated by Kerti Tergem.

And now listen to what MannuMiner says:



zondag 24 juli 2016

GERMAN BLUEGRASS ON STAGE

All authors google themselves, everyone knows thát! So did I, this morning, and I found out that there have been some amateur stagings of a play after my book THE DAYS OF BLUEGRASSLOVE. In Germany, in the city of Pfaffenhofen.
The play was an adaptation by Sven. J. Ohlsson, the German edition of my book was published by Carlsen, translated by the great translator Rolf Erdorf.
I hope the audience enjoyed these nights!
More here.


vrijdag 1 juli 2016

NOMINATED FOR THE HCA

Ooh - this just happened: I will be nominated for the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award. This (quote) is 'the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children's books. Every other year IBBY presents the Andersen Award to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children's literature. The Author's Award has been given since 1956 and the Illustrator's Award since 1966. The Award consists of a gold medal and a diploma, presented at a festive ceremony during the biennial IBBY Congress.'

Each year almost 30 authors and 30 illustrators are nominated. The last years saw Dutch author Ted van Lieshout and Marit Törnqvist shortlisted!.
For 2018 the Dutch IBBY (International Board on Books for Young people) also chose fantastic illustrator Thé Tjong-Khing as a nominee.
I'm very thankful for this nomination, and honoured. It's a delight! Thanks to the Dutch IBBY-section, and to my wonderful publishing houses Querido and De Eenhoorn.



donderdag 23 juni 2016

VOTE FOR THE OKAPI WON THE ZILVEREN GRIFFEL!

It's the best known children's books award in The Netherlands: the annual Zilveren Griffel (Silver Slate). Up to ten of these awards are given each year, in different categories, by a professional jury. One of these awards will be turned into a Golden one during the Children's book week in October.

This year my book STEM OP DE OKAPI (VOTE FOR THE OKAPI) won a Zilveren Griffel in the non-fiction-category. I am very grateful for that. Martijn van der Linden, the fantastic illustrator of this book, received a Vlag en Wimpel (Honorary mention) for the artwork.
The book was published by Querido in Amsterdam.

The book is promoted by the Dutch Literary Fund, so foreign publishers could apply for translation and production grants here.

For years the okapi has been my favourite animal. This animal that is shy and majestic at the same time, that was discovered only 100 years ago (in Congo), and that bears zebrastripes as well as horns - but actually its only familymember is the giraffe.
In this fullcolour book, that illustrator Martijn van der Linden and me have been working on for years, we present 88 reasons to take the okapi as your new preferred animal. The book has nine chapters, and each chapter is different. In the first one we describe the okapi from head to toe, in another one we follow an okapi-zookeeper for some (dramatic) years, there are chapters with just okapi-illustrations, there is one with 4 okapi-poems, there is the okapi museum, in which we collect okapi-pictures (made by many leading illustrators, especially for this book).
It's a book full of passion, it's a book that provides you with everything that there is to know about the okapi, it's funny and light, it's serious and informative, we hope we have convinced you at the end to keep an eye on the shy and majestic animals ánd people around us...

maandag 30 mei 2016

RUNNING DEER AT THE DEUTSCHE OPER IN BERLIN

Illustrator Mattias De Leeuw and me made THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER (DERTIEN RENNENDE HERTJES). It was translated into German by Rolf Erdorf, was published by publishing house Gerstenberg and now the famous Deutsche Oper company in Berlin will make a music theatre performance out of it! There will be music by Händel, Purcell, Monteverdi and Hanusa, and there will be puppeteers. The play, which is called DAS GEHEIMNIS DER BLAUEN HIRSCHE ('The secret of the blue deer'), will premiere November 4.
More info here.  

The book was originally published at De Eenhoorn.
Rights - so far - were sold to Germany (Gerstenberg), China (Petrel), Taiwan (Interminds) and South-Korea (Lime).
Rights can be optioned here,
and for translation and production grants: the Dutch Translation Fund made a special on this book - here. 

maandag 23 mei 2016

VOTE FOR THE OKAPI WON THE WP AWARD!

Last week my book STEM OP DE OKAPI, which translates as VOTE FOR THE OKAPI, got a very nice award: the prestigious Woutertje Pieterse Prijs, which is given to the best literary children's book of the year, chosen by a professional jury. The award is for both the text and the images, which were made by the amazing Martijn van der Linden. It was published in Holland by Querido.

The book is promoted by the Dutch Literary Fund, so foreign publishers could apply for translation and production grants here.

For years the okapi has been my favourite animal. This animal that is shy and majestic at the same time, that was discovered only 100 years ago (in Congo), and that bears zebrastripes as well as horns - but actually its only familymember is the giraffe.
In this fullcolour book, that illustrator Martijn van der Linden and me have been working on for years, we present 88 reasons to take the okapi as your new preferred animal. The book has nine chapters, and each chapter is different. In the first one we describe the okapi from head to toe, in another one we follow an okapi-zookeeper for some (dramatic) years, there are chapters with just okapi-illustrations, there is one with 4 okapi-poems, there is the okapi museum, in which we collect okapi-pictures (made by many leading illustrators, especially for this book).
It's a book full of passion, it's a book that provides you with everything that there is to know about the okapi, it's funny and light, it's serious and informative, we hope we have convinced you at the end to keep an eye on the shy and majestic animals ánd people around us...

zaterdag 30 april 2016

SAM ENTERS FRANCE

My book TOEN KWAM SAM now came out in France. The French translation, for the publishing house of L'école des loisirs, was made by Maurice Lomré.
This is the fifteenth edition of the book, after the original one (Querido, Amsterdam), the eleven editions in South-Africa, and the ones in Estonia (Päike ja Pilv) and Germany (Carlsen).

All the editions also show the beautiful illustrations, made by Philip Hopman. Later this year the American edition will be issued (Eerdmans).
A big thank you to all publishers!

donderdag 21 april 2016

OLIVER WINS

Yesterday my book OLIVER was awarded with the Golden Frame 2016, which is the jury's prize for the best book for youth. It was a great surprise, and I'm very, very grateful.

This book, about the 16-year old Oliver who had a comfortable life, but suddenly is confronted with all kinds of things that shake up his entire existence, is the third book that I wrote about the Dutch Tycho and the Norwegian Oliver. The books are stand-alones, but could also be read as a series.
Back in 2000 the first book THE DAYS OF BLUEGRASSLOVE, got the same award (which then was called The Golden Kiss), as did the second book, OUR THIRD BODY, in 2007.

Translation rights to OLIVER are not sold yet, please contact Luciënne van der Leije for that.
The Dutch Literature Fund could support foreign publishers for the translation costs.  

Copyright Marco de Swart


donderdag 17 maart 2016

NINO NOMINATED

Delightful news: the German version of the picturebook that illustrator Anton Van Hertbruggen and I made, THE DOG THAT NINO DIDN'T HAVE, is nominated for the German Literature Award.

This Award nominates six books in every category: picture book, children's book, books for youth and non-fiction. The nominations were announced at the Leipzig Book Fair and the winners will be announced in October, at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

DER HUND DEN NINO NICHT HATTE (original title: HET HONDJE DAT NINO NIET HAD) was published by Bohem Press, in Germany, and translated by Rolf Erdorf. The book was originally published by De Eenhoorn, that also sells the rights. Rights were sold for the English, the French, the Chinese, the Brazilian Portuguese, the Korean and the Danish versions.  

The book and the illustrator already got awards in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and the United States. Last year LENA UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DER BLAUEN HIRSCHE, (THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER) by Mattias De Leeuw and me (also translated by Rolf Erdorf) was nominated for the German Literature Award. More about the nominees of this year can be read here.

woensdag 16 maart 2016

SOFIE IN ISRAEL

It came out just now: the Hebrew version of our book SOFIE AND THE PENGUINS (SOFIE EN DE PINGUÏNS). This is my first book in Israël and I'm happy that Rimonim Publishing noticed the book. Thanks! Also a big thank you to Irit Golan, who translated the book.

SOFIE AND THE PENGUINS is illustrated by Floor de Goede and contains photocomics by Ype+Willem. The book originally was published by Querido, Amsterdam. The book is the first of a series of books that contain a story, illustrations, comics ánd non-fiction elements.

The rights to this book were also sold to Italy (Il Castoro) and Estonia (Päike ja Pilv). It got children's jury prizes both in Holland and in Belgium.

woensdag 9 maart 2016

NEWS ABOUT SAM

The dog that gave me two books, Sam, is still alive (well, the real one isn't, sadly enough). The two books (SAM SHOWED UP and SAMS MYSTERIES) were bundled into one big Sam-book, the new cover goes hereby. The books were issued by Querido and contain of course all the original illustrations by the great Philip Hopman.

Apart from that, the Estonian Organisation for Child Care, chose their 'best books of the year'. Among those picks was the Estonian translation by Kerti Tergem of the first book, SAM SHOWED UP (KOER NIMEGA SAM, published by Päike Ja Pilv).

The rights of the first book so far were sold for these languages:
French
German
Estonian
English (USA)
and all eleven languages of the Republic of South-Africa.

The second book:
German
Estonian.

The Dutch Literature Fund gives grants for spreading the book into even more countries. This can be checked here. Also on that page: a sample translation into English (by David Colmer) of the first book. 


woensdag 17 februari 2016

KOREAN NEWS, TWICE

A little while ago the Korean translation of THE DOG THAT NINO DIDN'T HAVE was published in South-Korea, at the publishing house of Jiyangsa. This book, made by illustrator Anton Van Hertbruggen and me, was already issued in German, Chinese, Danish, French and American English. The Brazilian version will follow soon.
Originally the book was published by De Eenhoorn. It got several awards, including the 'Gulden Palet' (Netherlands), the 'Boekenpauw' (Belgium), the 'Prix Sorcières' (France) and the Silver Medal of the Society of Illustrators (USA).
Rights can be viewed here.

But more Korean books are coming. The publishing house of Lime co. bought the Korean rights of THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER, the book that Mattias De Leeuw and I made. This will be out in the fall of 2016 and after the German, Chinese (mainland) and Chinese (Taiwan) it will be the fourth international version. Recently the book was nominated for the German Literature Award.
Rights can be checked at De Eenhoorn, here.

vrijdag 12 februari 2016

PRINCE HAYO ALREADY SOLD TO GERMANY

The book is not out yet - it will be soon, in March. But by now (February) the rights are already sold to Germany. To the publishing house of Gerstenberg. I'm talking about THE COUNTING BOOK OF PRINCE HAYO THE HAPPY - a big and colourful picturebook ánd a counting book, all in one. Made by the dazzling Mattias De Leeuw (pictures), the text is by me.

We worked together on two books before: THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER, that was sold to Germany, China, Taiwan and South-Korea, and received a nomination for the German Literature Award 2015.
We also made a poetry-picture book about happy sounds: MY HAPPY BOOK OF SOUNDS.

As for PRINCE HAYO: for the coming bookfair of Bologna this book is available at both the original publisher (De Eenhoorn) and the Flemish Literature Fund.

You can take a look at a few pages of the book here.

vrijdag 29 januari 2016

SAM WILL SHOW UP IN THE US

Today a press statement was released by my publisher, Querido in Amsterdam, announcing that the World-English Rights for both my books SAM SHOWED UP and SAMS MYSTERIES have been sold to Eerdmans Publishing Company in the Uinited States. The first book will come out this fall and is translated by David Colmer, awarded translator. The books will, just as in all international versions so far, contain the beautiful illustrations by Philip Hopman.

The first and second book came out in Germany (Carlsen) and Estonia (Päike ja Pilv) and the first book was issued in all eleven official languagues in South-Africa (ten editions by the Department of Arts and Culture, one by Protea Boekhuis). The French translation will be published soon, by L'école des loisirs.

For other languages: rights can be informed here, and The Dutch Literary Fund could provide a grant.