Unlike the Anglophone publishing landscape, where literary agents/managers are an established intermediary between author and publishing house, the role of literary agent/manager acting as an intermediary has only recently become more common in the Netherlands. Because of the much smaller scale of the local book market, many authors still interact directly with their publishers regarding contracts and royalties. In recent years, the Dutch literary market seems to slowly take on the Anglophone approach. What complicates this, however, is that only a few publishing authors in the Netherlands can live off their writing. For most, writing is something they do on the side. Therefore, only the established, bestselling authors can fund agencies to represent them.

After studying Business Economics in New York, Michaël Roumen was one of the first to bring the business of literary management to the Netherlands. His role in the Dutch literary market is, therefore, unique. As a literary manager, he sets himself apart by guiding and supporting (internationally) successful and established Dutch authors, such as Pfeijffer, Lize Spit, Esther Gerritsen, and Lucas Rijneveld. As a literary manager, he focuses on long-term career planning and helping his authors manage distractions. Roumen takes care of tasks such as email correspondence and cash flow. This enables his authors to dedicate more time and (mental) space to writing.

Compared to publishing houses that often focus on the (short-term) marketing and sale of the newest books of their authors, Roumen takes care of the long-term management of his authors’ careers. He is involved with the profiling of the author and arranges literary tours or interviews with different media. Typically, Roumen makes sure to look at the bigger picture. As such, he considers the author's latest novel in terms of their entire career. This is important as certain choices, for example the choice of a specific international publishing house to publish the translation, can have a long-term impact on the author’s career.

As Pfeijffer’s literary manager, Roumen was very much involved during the publication and transfer of Grand Hotel Europa. In collaboration with Pfeijffer’s editor and publisher, he took care of the international branding of the book and its author. An example is the cover that was used for the original novel as well as many of its translations. Through his initiative, Roumen established an internationally recognisable image which helped gaining momentum for the novel. Furthermore, he focused on branding Pfeijffer as a European author, aiming at international interest for Pfeijffer, which is crucial in the ambition of publishing and transferring future novels.

During the international publication of GHE, Roumen and the Dutch publisher used a domino strategy: each translation and reception of the book into another language was widely shared and celebrated, which helped convince other publishing houses to translate the novel as well. As such, Roumen became a spearhead during the entire process. While the foreign rights department of the Dutch publisher (Martijn Prins, Arbeiderspers) managed and oversaw the transfers, Roumen was the point of contact for many of the international actors. One can speculate whether the novel would have become such an international success if there hadn’t been such an explicit strategy formed by the Pfeijffer team.

It is no news that translators often play a vital role in a process of selecting new titles to translate. They are, for instance, generally asked to provide a sample translation and reading rapport (especially when the original work is written in a language the editor does not read). As the following paragraphs will show, the role of translators is sometimes even more important: their enthusiasm is often a driving force behind the decision of the editors/publishers to take on the novel.

This was particularly the case with regards to the transfer of GHE.  For example, the Norwegian translator Hedda Vormeland first discovered GHE during a literary lunch organised by Paula Stevens in 2019. Later, after the London Book Fair, she was approached by the Norwegian publisher Gyldendal. They asked if she could read and write a report of the novel. In this text, she most notably appreciated the philosophical questions posed in Pfeijffer’s novel and his style of writing. Furthermore, Vormeland found the overall story very absorbing. Gyldendal’s editor agreed with her and thought the novel was a good fit for the Norwegian market. As part of the submission for the translation rights, the editor included a love letter, an enthusiastic note explaining what she loved about the book and why she wanted to publish it in Norway. In this letter, she described the novel as a “literary firework”. In the end, she was able to pre-empt the novel, thus securing the rights before other Norwegian publishers could make an offer. Her love letter may have played a decisive role in convincing Pfeijffer’s rights team to sell Gyldendal the Norwegian translation rights. This happened well before Roumen activated the international campaign.

For the Romanian translation, the translator Irina Anton was an important mediator in establishing the transfer of the novel. On behalf of the Dutch Foundation for Literature, Anton made a sample translation of Grand Hotel Europa to add to its databank. Anton was already familiar with Pfeijffer and his style of writing as she had previously translated another novel of his: La Superba. After finishing the sample translation, she sent it to many Romanian publishers. Anton received a few responses, yet no publisher wanted to take on the risk. A year later, though, she was contacted by the publisher Nemira, to whom she had not previously sent her sample translation. They were interested in the novel only after it became a bestseller in the Netherlands and was translated into other languages. What followed in the Romania transfer was a long process filled with uncertainty. Multiple causes, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a lawsuit against the novel, resulted in a delay in the publication of the novel. For a while, the translator hadn’t been sure whether the translation was going to be published. While this caused stress and uncertainty for Anton, she still describes her collaboration with Nemira as enjoyable. In the end, it was both Anton and the Romanian editor who convinced the publishing house to continue with the publication. Because of their perseverance, the translation and transfer were successful.

The Dutch Foundation for Literature was again important in the onset of the French transfer, as through them the French translator Françoise Antoine was notified about the sale of the French translation rights to the publisher Presses de la Cité. She decided to send a letter to the French editor Frédérique Polet in which she proposed to make a sample translation. In the end, she was assigned the translation.

These examples show how institutions such as the Dutch Foundation for Literature also have a crucial role in the establishment of international translations as they sponsor up to 70% of the translation costs. This helps raise the enthusiasm of the international publisher as it is more accessible to invest in.

In the English transfer, the mediator for GHE was the translator Michele Hutchison. She was pivotal in raising interest in England, as she spread information about the novel and its author, using her network to connect the book to the 'right' editor in the English market. Hutchison created a sample translation for Nicholas Pearson, editor of 4th Estate at that time. Her sample translation and enthusiasm convinced Pearson to put in an offer for the rights to the novel. In the end, because of his love letter to the novel, his publishing house won the four-way bidding war in the UK. Once again, this shows the importance of translators (and their enthusiasm for the novel) in the establishment of book transfers.

Another unique feature of the international publication of the novel was the creation of a translator’s group, set up by Vormeland. Through this group, the different translators involved connected online and offline for support and motivation. As GHE is a lengthy novel with intricate style and choice of words, translators used this group to discuss certain passages and word choices. In an article regarding the translator group, Antoine mentions translators sharing pictures of art which are described in the novel. Other translators mention how discussing the translation of certain words was inspiring and helped them with their own work, even though they translated to other languages.[1] Furthermore, especially during the Covid pandemic, the group was a great help for the translators to stay in contact with their international colleagues.

[1] Martens, Wilke. “De kunst van het vertalen: ‘De ideale vertaling bestaat niet’.” Hebban, 22 April 2022, www.hebban.nl/artikelen/boekenweek-2022-de-kunst-van-het-vertalen.

The international transfer of Grand Hotel Europa was made possible by multiple actors. Literary manager Michael Roumen was the captain of the campaign. But, without the enthusiasm and pro-activity of the translators, the novel wouldn’t probably have been as widespread and successful as it has been. This shows that books need to be advocated for, especially in international transfers. Apart from the agent’s work, editors seem more easily convinced of the potential of the novel if it has a translator advocating for it. Especially the pandemic’s restrictions did not make the international transfer any easier. While many more people in the team were involved in the process of transferring GHE, the enthusiasm and dedication of these local people helped make sure the novel overcame its international hiccups and delays.

During this transfer, these mediators seem to have operated mostly on an individual basis, yet their combined efforts led to successful translations of the book. Future research could explore how these mediators collaborated and the extent to which they relied on each other during the transfer process.