It's official. My sample translation of the YA cross-over novel Cellar Child, by the Flemish author Kristien Dieltiens, has been selected as one of six translations to be presented to a jury of top publishing professionals at a celebratory event on June 9th as part of the 2016 European Literature Festival.

Dieltiens is a prizewinning author - writing in Dutch - with many novels and children's books to her name. Cellar Child - Kelderkind - is her fiftieth work and won the prestigious Woutertje Pieterse prize in 2013.

It's fantastic news, not only for me, but more importantly for Kristien Dieltiens and her work. I'm hoping that my presentation of the novel will be able to attract the attention of the right publisher and / or agent - one who will love the novel as much as I do.

You can read more about the competition and the Translation Pitch event on the English PEN website. You can also download a booklet which contains all the prizewinning translations and sample the best that's coming out of Italy, Turkey, Germany, Spain and France, as well as from Belgium, Kristien Dieltiens' home country.