Facts and Figures
On this page you will find visualisations showing the most translated authors and titles from Dutch to Polish, as well as the most important publishers and translators between 2000 and today. The visualisations are based on data available from the Digital Library and Bibliography for Literature in Translation (DLBT).
Dutch Literature in Poland (2000-)
Translations of Dutch literature accounted for a small percentage of literary production in Poland until the mid-20th century. However, it is the last decades that have led to an increased interest in authors from the Low Countries. One can clearly see that the fact that the Netherlands and Flanders were Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2016 caused a significant boost in Polish translations of Dutch literature.
The most translated authors in Poland
Literature for children and youth by far dominates the latest production of translations from Dutch into Polish. First place belongs to an author who has become an icon of Dutch children's literature, Annie M.G. Schmidt. Her series of books with short stories about a boy (Jip) and a girl (Janneke) have fascinated audiences around the world (see also The Dutch Astrid Lindgren?) and have been translated into Polish twice in the last decennia. Guido Van Genechten, Liesbet Slegers, and Karina Schaapman are authors who publish books for the youngest children with the dominant importance of the image.
Mike Jansen is an exeption in that list. This SF, fantasy and horror writer won in 1992 the King Kong Award and in 1998 he was honoured by the Australian 'Altair Magazine'. He owes his presence on the Polish market to the fascination of Damian Olszewski, the translator, who discovered his Dutch-language work (Jansen also publishes in English) for the Polish readers.
The most translated titles in Poland
The list of the most translated books is not surprising, given the popularity of children's books. Included in this list are titles by the authors already mentioned above. The exception is the first position. The first edition of Jewish Rites and Symbols appeared in 1927. A second volume followed in 1932. The original book Joodse riten en symbolen (Jewish Rites and Symbols), written by Rabbi Simon Philip De Vries, appeared in 1927, followed by the second volume in 1932. It became the standard work for information about customs and regulations of daily Jewish life in the Netherland. It is a rich book suitable for every reader with an interest in the Jewish tradition. It has been translated into Polish by Andrzej Borowski, literary scholar, theoretician and historian of literature.
The most important publishers in Poland
This graphic shows the publishers that appear most frequently in the list of translations of Dutch literature into Polish. Most of the publishers on this list are those however that have published anthologies and therefore present the entire list of translations in one publication.
The most important translators in Poland
The list of the most important translators of Dutch opens with Jadwiga Jędryas, translator of mainly children's literature and co-founder of the publishing house Dwie Siostry. Ryszard Turczyn who has a similar number of translations to his credit as Jędryas, is probably the most diverse translator. His output includes popular literature (detective stories by Pieter Aspe), children's literature (Van Genechten) and the prose of established Dutch writers (Willem Elsschot or Simon Vestdijk).
Alicja Oczko and Małgorzata Woźniak-Diederen are translators who (among other things) translate non-fiction, another popular genre in Poland. Alicja Oczko is also responsible for the translations of Anne Frank's Diary and some classic Dutch novels (by Hella S. Haasse, Stefan Hertmans, Cees Nooteboom or J.Bernlef). She received the Letterenfonds Vertaalprijs 2016 award for her work.
(Małgorzata Dowlaszewicz)