Herman Koch's novel The Dinner (published in the U.S. by Hogarth) has reached a milestone: it is now the most translated modern Dutch novel. According to the Dutch Foundation for Literature, the book has been sold in 37 countries, and will be published in 33 languages, which is a record-breaking statistic.
The Dinner has been a bestseller in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, among other countries. The deals were done by Shared Stories, the new author agency in Amsterdam, which is an initiative of VBK Publishing Group, incorporating the publishing houses Ambo|Anthos, Atlas Contact, Luitingh-Sijthoff and VBK|Media. The agency also represents the foreign translation rights and film and stage rights of top Dutch authors such as Geert Mak, Herman Koch, Dimitri Verhulst and Esther Verhoef.
A Dutch film adaptation of The Dinner is also in the works and is set to premiere in the Netherland on November 4. In addition, Cate Blanchett is attached to make her directorial debut with an English-language adaptation of the novel.
