Australian oeuvre award for translator David Colmer

In Sydney, Nathan Rees, the Premier of New South Wales has conferred the biennial New South Wales Premier’s Translation Prize and PEN Trophy upon the Dutch translator David Colmer. The prize has been awarded for Colmer’s entire oeuvre and consists of a sum of 30,000 Australian dollars.

The jury report referred to the large number of Dutch-language literary titles that have recently appeared in English translation:

The Dutch are well known for their long history of publishing translations from many other languages, but the publication of large numbers of Dutch authors in English translation is a phenomenon of recent times.

The report mentions Colmer’s combined talents as a writer and a linguist which make him such as good translator.

Linguistic purity as well as a spirited and instinctive quality endows his translations with a rare luminosity and sensuousness. As a translator he is gifted with an extraordinary poetic sensitivity to the audio appeal of words, and in his English renditions of contemporary Dutch poetry and literary fiction he addresses a number of literary styles with flair and distinction.

His oeuvre consists of a rich and various collection of titles: from Annie M.G. Schmidt’s Jip and Janneke to the poetry of Martinus Nijhoff.

Since 2001, Colmer has translated seven novels for prominent English and American publishers, including Familieziek (2008, Repatriated bij Heinemann) by Adriaan van Dis, and Boven is het stil (2008, The Twin (published by Harvill Secker) by Gerbrand Bakker. In this period he also translated poetry by Anna Enquist (The Fire Was Here, 2003) and non-fiction by Koen Vergeer (Formula 1 Fanatic, 2003). In the course of 2009, translations of Mevrouw Verona daalt de heuvel af (‘Madame Verona Comes Down from the Hill’) by Dimitri Verhulst, and Specht en Zoon (‘Specht and Son’) by Willem Jan Otten will appear. For a complete list, see the Translation database under the heading ‘More information’ at the bottom of this page.

These translations were realized thanks to the mediation and/or financial support of the Nederlands Literair Productie- en Vertalingenfonds.

More information

• list of titles translated by David Colmer
• NSW Premier’s Translation Prize en PEN Trophy
• NLPVF: Maria Vlaar, tel. 020 620 62 61

Published: May 20, 2009 news