Facts and Figures
Here you can find some basic visualisations showing different aspects of translation flows from Dutch into Spanish. The visualisations are based on the data available in the Digital Library and Bibliography for Literature in Translation and Adaptation (DLBT). It should be noted that this is a work in progress. Not all the data have been included yet, and the results are somewhat biased due to the inclusion in the database of individual contributions that have been published in anthologies of poetry and short stories.
Dutch Literature in Spanish-speaking Countries since 2000
This line graph illustrates the number of translations from Dutch into Spanish published annually since 2000. It represents a total of 1,170 titles. The data show a clear variation in productivity. The least productive years were 2004, 2012 and 2015, while 2007, 2013 and 2016 were the most productive. It is important to mention that these positive peaks are partly due to the publication of anthologies, where each poem or short story is counted separately. Over the last few years, there has been a fairly constant rate of production, with an average of around 40 titles published per year.
The most translated authors
The pie chart shows the top 5 Dutch or Flemish authors translated into Spanish. We see an interesting mix, representing both regions (Flanders and the Netherlands), a range of literary periods (from classics to contemporary hits) and genres (from non-fiction to fiction and from poetry to children's literature).
Dutch novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer Cees Nooteboom tops the list, as he does for other language combinations, with 65 translations since 2000. He is undoubtedly the most popular Dutch-speaking author in Spain, where he spends part of the year at his retreat on the island of Menorca. In 2020 he was awarded the Premio Formentor de las Letras for 'transcending the boundaries of literary genres with his incessant creativity'.
Contemporary Flemish children's author and illustrator Liesbet Slegers is a distant second with 28 titles. Flemish author Stefan Hertmans is next with 18 translations, including a novel, short stories and poetry, a genre he shares with compatriot Miriam Van Hee, with 17 translations. Dutch author Tonke Dragt, who has been widely translated into other languages, rounds off the list with 15 titles that are considered classics of Dutch young adult literature.
The most translated titles
The top 5 most translated titles include translations that have been reprinted several times (with a maximum of 5). None of the titles is a retranslation.
It comes as no surprise that two of the titles on the list have two top 5 authors, namely Carta al rey (Tonke Dragt) and El día de todas las almas (Cees Nooteboom). That Anna Frank's widely translated and read diary comes second is also no surprise. What you might not expect, however, is to find two books by bestselling Dutch author Hanny Alders on the list, which may be linked to the boom in historical fiction at the turn of the century.
The most active publishers
The top 10 publishers of Dutch and Flemish literature exhibit a diverse range of characteristics. The list encompasses publishers based in various countries on both sides of the Atlantic (Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Spain), ranging from small and independent publishers to large and influential groups, and from general publishers to publishers specialising in a particular literary genre.
We will now exclude from consideration those publishers who occupy the top positions as a result of publishing anthologies comprising a multitude of individual contributions, each of which is counted separately. Once this has been done, it becomes evident that Spanish independent publisher Siruela has the highest level of activity, having published 60 translations from Dutch into Spanish. It is no coincidence that Cees Nooteboom (with the exception of a few reprints from other publishers) and Tonke Dragt are among their most prominent authors.
The next two positions are held by two Spanish publishers dedicated to the publication of educational material and children's and young adult literature, with a significant presence in Latin America. These are Edelvives and Ediciones SM, with 49 and 35 titles respectively.
Alianza Editorial, another Spanish publisher with a strong presence in Spanish-speaking America, combines the publication of classic and contemporary fiction and non-fiction authors with works aimed at the academic and university world. It has published 19 titles translated from the Dutch. A further 17 titles have been published by Fondo de Cultura Económica, a Spanish-language publishing group based in Mexico with a presence throughout Latin America, whose publications are aimed at both adults and children.
The most productive translators
Last but not least, let's take a look at the figures for the translators who are involved in the transfer of literature from Dutch into Spanish. The list includes 9 translators who have translated 30 or more titles since 2000, often in different genres. They can therefore be considered 'experts' according to the Petra-E Framework. Two of them (Diego Puls and Goedele De Sterck) have been awarded the Dutch Literary Foundation's Translation Prize in 2010 and 2018, which recognises 'the high quality of their work and their efforts as ambassadors for literary translation in general'.
They stand out for their efforts to train future generations of literary translators through courses, workshops and mentorships.
In fact, most of the top 9 translators are currently close to retirement or have left the profession, which means that there is an urgent need for a young generation of translators from Dutch into Spanish who translate not just occasionally but on a regular basis. Emerging translators and Spanish-speaking students of the Dutch language are warmly invited to join the Dutch-Spanish translator family and explore the opportunities offered by organisations such as the Dutch Foundation for Literature (DFL), Flanders Literature (FL), the Dutch Language Union (De Taalunie) and the Centre of Expertise for Literary Translation (ELV).