Meet the World: Tommy Wieringa & Sam Garrett
As part of Meet The World, we’re teaming up with the National Centre for Writing for a series of conversations between writers and their translators. Exploring the most exciting new books of 2020, it shines a light on the new Dutch and Flemish masters of fiction and poetry.
Wednesday 13 May, 7pm - Tommy Wieringa with translator Sam Garrett
Set in the anonymous borderlands of central Europe, Tommy Wieringa’s The Blessed Rita centres on a group of misfits left behind by globalisation, unable to escape past tragedies and uncertain about their place in society’s future. Tommy Wieringa will be in conversation with his translator, Sam Garrett, and chair Suzi Feay.
Tommy Wieringa began his writing career with travel stories and journalism, and is the author of several internationally bestselling novels, including Joe Speedboat which sold over 300,000 copies. His novels have been shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and his recent novel, The Death of Murat Idrissi, was longlisted for the 2019 International Booker Prize.
Sam Garrett has translated some fifty novels and works of non-fiction. He has won prizes and appeared on shortlists for some of the world’s most prestigious literary awards, and is the only translator to have twice won the British Society of Authors’ Vondel Prize for Dutch-English translation.
Suzi Feay is a journalist and critic based in London. She has been writing about books for over twenty years, and was the Literary Editor of the Independent on Sunday for eleven years. She currently reviews for the Financial Times and teaches journalism for creative writing students at Brunel University.
‘With a good eye for remarkable stories and sharp dialogues, Wieringa sketches an inky black portrait of a meagre emotional life and a perverse small-town culture.’ – The Standard
The Blessed Rita is available for purchase and delivery from independent bookshop The Book Hive.
Register for this event
To register for this online event please email newdutchwriting2020@gmail.com
N. B. You will be sent a reminder on the day and your email will not be held beyond the date of the event.
About the author(s)
Tommy Wieringa (1967) grew up partly in the Netherlands, and partly in the tropics. He began his writing career with travel stories and journalism, and is the author of several internationally bestselling novels. His fiction has been longlisted for the Booker International Prize, shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary...
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