Facts and Figures
This page contains visual representations showcasing the translation dynamics from Dutch-speaking nations to Italy. These visualizations utilize data sourced from the Digital Library and Bibliography for Literature in Translation and Adaptation (DLBT). They show the annual number of Dutch titles translated, the most translated authors in Italy, the most popular titles, publishers, and translators. It seems that the interest in Dutch and Flemish Literature has grown enormously in Italy in the last few years.
Dutch Literature in Italy (2000-)
The line chart illustrates the annual number of Dutch books published in Italy since 2000, including both original works and reprints. By moving the slider below the graph, you can zoom in to a specific time frame.
The overview shows a great increase in the number of Dutch and Flemish books translated in Italy, especially in the past few years, in which it has almost doubled. Following the chart, there has been a constant effort to bring Dutch works to the Italian literary landscape, especially in the field of Child Literature, as shown in the following graph.
The most translated authors in Italy
From this overview, it is immediately clear that Amant Kathleen is the frontrunner of literature from the Netherlands and Flanders in Italy, with 52 books translated. Her books for toddlers and pre-schoolers have been wildly successful, rendering her a renowned author and illustrator. She has written her first book when she was only 7, with the title Peter en Bart doen aan sport, and has since then written many popular works, such as the Anna series, which has gained enormous international recognition.
After Amant Kathleen, the Dutch-language author whose works have been translated the most in the past two decades is Cees Nooteboom.
His greatly varied work includes poetry, prose and plays and his legacy is shown by being nominated several times for the Nobel Prize. Thanks to the Italian publisher Iperborea, he has conquered the Italian literary landscape with his philosophical depth and lyrical prose along with his nomadism, which has inspired his travel writings and has been a breath of fresh air.
With equal merit, Renate Dorrestein and Guus Kuijer have had sixteen books of theirs translated in the past two decades. The former was a Dutch journalist, novel writer, and feminist, while the latter is known for his Child Literature’s books, especially The Book of Everything, which has won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in Italy in 2012.
The last author in this list, Abdolah Kader, is a Dutch novelist who was born in Iran, who has meshed the Persian view of the world with his Dutch-language books. His translations have had a growing success in Italy and his novel The House of the Mosque has been voted as the second-best Dutch novel ever in the Netherlands in an online survey organized by NRC Handelsblad and NPS in 2007.
The most translated titles in Italy
This pie chart shows that Madelief, a work by Kuijer Guus that belongs to children’s literature, has had the highest number of reprints, confirming the stranglehold that this genre has over Dutch translated books in Italy.
In general, these figures are average compared to countries where Dutch literature is at its peak, such as Germany and Switzerland, but it is still high when compared to other countries such as Austria. This shows that publishers are not afraid to reprint books that are selling well and to compete with other publishers for bestsellers. What’s more, the dominance of children’s literature in Italy does not mean that other genres are not doing well, as all kinds of books are being reprinted when they sell well.
In conclusion, these numbers seem to create conditions for Dutch literature to become better known in the future.
The most important publishers in Italy
This chart illustrates the most active Italian publishers in the field of Dutch literature. At the top of the list is Iperborea, whose primary aim is to introduce a wide range of translated works from Northern European literatures to the Italian book industry. Undoubtedly, Iperborea has contributed significantly to familiarizing Italians with different world visions and narratives, including those from the Netherlands and Belgium.
Following Iperborea, Clavis, a division of Il Castello Editore, holds the second position with a diverse selection of children’s books, a field also pursued by the third-ranked publisher on this chart, Sinnos. Once again, the last two publishers serve as further evidence that children's literature is the most translated genre from Dutch to Italian. The final two positions are occupied by Feltrinelli and Salani, both well-established companies in the Italian publishing industry, which have significantly increased the availability of Dutch literature.
The most important translators in Italy
This chart shows that over the past two decades, Laura Pignatti has been by far the most successful Dutch language translator in Italy. With an amount of 124 works translated she has been extremely prolific, mainly in the field of children and young people’s literature and occasionally delving into non-fiction. She is responsible for the translation of countless important Dutch and Belgian authors, including Cees Nooteboom, Renate Dorrestein and Bart Moeyaert. In addition, she has translated non-fiction works such as the diary of Anna Frank, the letters of Vincent Van Gogh and writings by Minka Nijhuis.
Franco Paris is the second most prolific translator of Dutch literature in Italian in recent years. He’s known for having been the first winner of the Dutch Foundation for Literature’s Translation Prize, and for contributing to translating vital authors such as Hella Haasse, Paul van Ostaijen and Johan Huizinga. Another important translator in this list is Elisabetta Svaluto Moreolo, a more recent addition to the list with most of her work coming from the past two decades. Her 36 translations throughout the span of these twenty years include authors such as Kader Abdolah, Gerbrand Bakker and Tommy Wieringa. In fourth place, with 31 books translated, there’s Claudia di Palermo, known for having won the Dutch Foundation for Literature’s Translation Prize in 2011 for her translations of authors such as Jan Jacob Slauerhoff, Jan Brokken and Arnon Grunberg. The fifth most prolific translator of the past two decades has been Patrizia Filia, whose translations of Dutch and Flemish poetry have influenced the Italian literary landscape.
Written by Benedetta Tormena and Vittorio Mongelli