The Charlotte Köhler Stipend 2021, an incentive grant for literary talent, was presented to translator Lisa Thunnissen on Wednesday 16 June. At the Van Deyssel House, she accepted a certificate and cheque worth €5,000.
Lisa Thunnissen receives the stipend for her translations of the works of South American authors such as Eduardo Halfon, Aura Xilonen and Raúl Zurita. The jury, consisting of Jacqueline Bel (chair), Jan Sietsma (2016 translation laureate), Chris van de Poel and Ton Naaijkens, praised 'the apparent and thus stunning ease with which Thunnissen manages to match Halfon's pace, Zurita's movement and Lun and Xilonen's playfulness'.
From the jury report:
"[Thunnissen] convinced by her ability to use natural expressions at the moment the text called for it; where there was deviation, she deviated; in other words, she always had the right sense of measure and, above all, an unerring sense of the desired tone. She knew how to empathise with the different voices echoing in the world of literature she opened up, even when it came to humour, irony or poetic emotion."
About the stipend
The Charlotte Köhler Stipend is a one-off incentive grant of €5,000 for a talented beginning Dutch-language author or translator. The stipend is awarded annually to an author whose titles or translations have been published in the past five years. Each year, a different genre is eligible: literary translation (2021), children's books (2022), prose (2023), poetry (2024), or drama (2025).
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français 