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. 

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. 

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.

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.   

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!

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.

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.

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. 

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.

AUDIOBOOK NEWS

Soon my first audiobook in Dutch will be out. It's TOEN KWAM SAM (THEN THERE WAS SAM), and I narrated the book myself.
In the meantime my first audiobook in German (LENA UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DER BLAUEN HIRSCHE) is nominated for the German Audiobook-award - the BEO, Deutscher Kinderhörbuchpreis. Yesterday it was announced that the book, read by Anne Moll, illustrated by Philip Hopman, translated by Rolf Erdorf and published by Gerstenberg (book) and Audiolino (audiobook), is on the shortlist.
More about the award and the shortlist: here.

Berlin: Literature Festival

One of the nicest, biggest and most impressive literature festivals in the world is the annual Literaturfestival in Berlin. It started this week. There will be many, many readings by many, many authors.
I was part of it in 2006 and 2011, and, I'm really happy about to say - this year again! I'll be present from the 12th til the 19th of September. I'll talk about my books THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER (DERTIEN RENNENDE HERTJES, in German issued as LENA UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DER BLAUEN HIRSCHE, with Mattias De Leeuw, Gerstenberg) and THE DOG THAT NINO DIDN'T HAVE (HET HONDJE DAT NINO NIET HAD, in German: DER HUND DEN NINO NICHT HATTE, with Anton Van Hertbruggen, Bohem Verlag, both books translated by Rolf Erdorf).
Take a look at the impressive list of authors that will be in Berlin. Amongst them: Peter Brown, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Jandy Nelson, David Almond, Sjoerd Kuyper and Kaatje Vermeire!
And check the programm here.

NINO IS LISTED IN GERMANY

Every month thirty children's book-experts from Germany, Switzerland and Austria choose the best seven new children's books. These are announced by Deutschlandfunk.

In August the German translation of the book that Anton Van Hertbruggen and I made, HET HONDJE DAT NINO NIET HAD (THE DOG NINO DIDN'T HAVE) was one of the seven. The book is called DER HUND, DEN NINO NICHT HATTE in German, and was translated by Rolf Erdorf for Bohem Press. More info on the list: here.

Originally the book came out at De Eenhoorn, Belgium. It already got the French Prix Sorcières, the Dutch Golden Palet and the Flemish Boekenpauw Award.

The book came out in China, France, Germany, Denmark and will shortly be published in the United States and Brazil.

AUDIOBOOK-LONGLIST

Anne Moll is the voice on my first audiobook, the one that was made by Audiolino of the German translation (by Rolf Erdorf) of my book THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER (DERTIEN RENNENDE HERTJES), under the German title LENA UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DER BLAUEN HIRSCHE. The paper version was released last year by Gerstenberg and the wonderful pictures are by Mattias De Leeuw.
Now the audiobook is put on the longlist for the German 'Kinderhörbuchpreis' (Audiobook-award), the BEO 2015. The complete longlist can be found here.
The shortlist will be published in September and the winner will be announced in November. Nice news!

THE CANCERCHAMPIONSHIP FOR JUNIORS GOES TO GERMANY

The book is not even out yet, but already publishing house Carlsen bought the German rights of THE CANCERCHAMPIONSHIP FOR JUNIORS (HET KANKERKAMPIOENSCHAP VOOR JUNIOREN), the book that is based on all the interviews I did with Roy Looman (20), about his lifestory: getting cancer at an early age, and at the same time having friends, kissing girls, working at the supermarket, caring about your little brothers.

The book, with its direct, uninhibited tone will be out in april this year in Holland, and one year later in German, translated by Rolf Erdorf.
Both me and Roy are very pleased!

NOMINATION FOR THE GERMAN YOUTH LITERATURE AWARD!

Wonderful news: it was announced yesterday that the German translation of my book DERTIEN RENNENDE HERTJES (THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER) is nominated for the prestigious German Youth Literature Award (Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis).

The book came out at Gerstenberg in a flawless translated by Rolf Erdorf. The exuberant pictures were made by Mattias De Leeuw. In October (Oct 16th), during the Frankfurt Bookfair, the winners will be known.

Thanks for all who contributed to this book and congratulations to all the other nominees. More info is to be found here.

GERMANY AND CHINA: NEW BOOKS

The year took off with some new translations of my books.
It's three new ones in China! Petrel Publishing House issued THE DOVE THAT COULDN'T DIVE (DE DUIF DIE NIET KON DUIKEN), my book with Alain Verster, ONE MILLION BUTTERFLIES (EEN MILJOEN VLINDERS), with Carll Cneut, and GOODNIGHT EVERYBODY (WELTERUSTEN IEDEREEN), with Sebastiaan Van Doninck.
All three books were originally published by De Eenhoorn, in Belgium, and now translated by Sun Yuan.

ONE MILLION BUTTERFLIES was previously released in Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Norway, Slovenia, Georgia, Taiwan and South-Africa.
THE DOVE THAT COULDN'T DIVE in Germany, Norway, Denmark, Taiwan and rights were bought for Italian.
GOODNIGHT EVERYBODY was also published in Taiwan.

In Germany DER HUND, DEN NINO NICHT HATTE came out. It's Rolf Erdorfs translation for Bohem Press of HET HONDJE DAT NINO NIET HAD (THE DOG THAT NINO DIDN'T HAVE), which is already available in French and Danish, and will be published in China and the United States as well.
I got to make this book with Anton Van Hertbruggen, and also this one was originally published by De Eenhoorn.

  

AUDIOBOOK AND MENTION

This fall my very first audiobook ever came out. In Germany. At Audiolino LENA UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DER BLAUEN HIRSCHE was issued. Anne Moll is the actrice who reads the story. It's the German translation of DERTIEN RENNENDE HERTJES (THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER), my book with illustrator Mattias De Leeuw and translator Rolf Erdorf.
In the meantime the paper version of the book (published by Gerstenberg) was awarded with the title 'Buch des Monats November 2014' (Book of the Month), by the Institut für Jugendliteratur in Austria!


The book can be ordered here and the audiobook here.

THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER ON GERMAN TV

QUERGELESEN is a nice German tv-program, in which host Marc Langebeck, highlights a few new books for children. In this weekend's episode one of these books was the German translation (by Rolf Erdorf) of the book I made with illustrator Mattias De Leeuw: DERTIEN RENNENDE HERTJES (THIRTEEN RUNNING DEER). In German the book is called LENA UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DER BLAUEN HIRSCHE. It was published by Gerstenberg.
Wanna see it? Check this link and look for the November show. (2014).
The item about the Running Deer starts at 05:32.

GERMAN RADIO ABOUT THE SECOND SAM-BOOK

Yesterday, Deutschlandfunk (German cultural radio) spoke about animals in childrens books. One of the books that was used is EIN WINTER MIT SAM, the second book I wrote about the Great Pyrrhenese dog Sam - a true story. It was translated into German by Rolf Erdorf, at publishing house Carlsen, and illustrated by Philip Hopman.

To be read here , and to be listened here: (Samstag, 25. Oktober 2014, Deutschlandfunk, from 16:05 uur, and then from the 7th minute).