Congrats to Paul Vincent!

Paul Vincent is one of the top Dutch-English translators working today, so it’s both deserved and unexpected that he won this year’s Vondel Translation Prize. From the press release:

The jury for the Vondel Translation Prize 2011 has awarded the prize to Paul Vincent for My Little War, his English translation of Louis Paul Boon’s Mijn kleine oorlog. The jury consisted of critic Paul Binding (Times Literary Supplement) and translators Ina Rilke and Sam Garrett. The runner-up is David Colmer for The Portrait, his translation of Specht en zoon by Willem Jan Otten.

My Little War was published in the United States in 2010 by Dalkey Archive Press, and is the first English translation of Louis Paul Boon’s 1947 novel. The translation was financially supported by the Flemish Literature Fund. [. . .]

The Vondel Translation Prize is a biennial award for the best book translation into British or American English of a Dutch-language work of literature or cultural history. The award was established by the Society of Authors and is funded by the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the Flemish Literature Fund. The winner receives a prize of € 5000.

I have yet to read My Little War, but Chapel Road and Summer in Termuren are two of my favorite books of all time. Both novels (which are connected) are linguistically wild, engaging, hilarious works. Visit his Dalkey Archive page now for more info and to buy them all . . .