Home - Open Book Translation

Welcome to my website. I’m David McKay, and Open Book Translation is my Dutch-to-English translation business specializing in literature, academic books and articles, museum publications, and books for the general public. My clients include major museums, scholars, and publishing houses. I am a member of ALTA, Sense, and the Society of Authors. I am the 2021 ALTA Emerging Translator Mentor (Dutch-English). The Dutch Foundation for Literature, a semi-governmental organization, has approved me as a literary translator from Dutch into English. In November 2017, I was awarded the biennial Vondel Translation Prize for my translation of War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans, which was also nominated for the International Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award. My joint translation with Ina Rilke of the anti-imperialist Dutch classic Max Havelaar was shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize 2020. You can find more information about past literary projects here.

If you’re interested in working with me, or have any questions, please contact me.

Selected Translations

cover of The Just — Jan Brokken, *The Just*. Translated by David McKay. Scribe, UK & Australia, 2021. HB.

cover of Planes — Jan Van Der Veken, *Planes*, translated by David McKay, Prestel Publishing, 2020. HB.

Cyriel Buysse, *The Aunts*. Translated by David McKay. Snuggly Books, 2020. PB.

Stefan Hertmans. The Convert. Translated by David McKay. Harvill Secker, 2019. PB — Stefan Hertmans. *The Convert*. Translated by David McKay. Harvill Secker, 2019. PB

J. Slauerhoff, *Adrift in the Middle Kingdom*. Translated by David McKay. Handheld Press, 2019. PB.

Multatuli, Max Havelaar: Or, the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company. Translated by David McKay, Ina Rilke. New York Review of Books, 2019 (NYRB Classics). PB. — Multatuli, *Max Havelaar: Or, the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company*. Translated by David McKay, Ina Rilke. New York Review of Books, 2019 (NYRB Classics). PB.

*Hockney/Van Gogh: The Joy of Nature*. Thames Hudson, 2019. PB.

*Rineke Dijkstra: The Louisiana Book*. Walther König, 2018. HB.

Black in Rembrandt's Time — *Black in Rembrandt’s Time*. W Books, 2020. PB.

Stefan Hertmans, War and Turpentine, translated by David McKay. Harvill Secker, PB. — Stefan Hertmans, *War and Turpentine*, translated by David McKay. Harvill Secker, 2016. PB.

*Penguin Book of Dutch Short Stories*. Selected by Joost Zwagerman, various authors and translators. Penguin (Modern Classics), 2016. PB.

Geert Buelens, Everything to Nothing, translated by David McKay. Verso, 2015. HB. — Geert Buelens, *Everything to Nothing: The Poetry of the Great War, Revolution and the Transformation of Europe*. Translated by David McKay. Verso, 2015. HB.

Ivo van Vulpen, *How to Find a Higgs Boson and Other Big Mysteries in the World of the Very Small*. Translated by David McKay. Yale University Press, 2020. HB.

Swallows and Floating Horses: An Anthology of Frisian Literature. ed. Ernst Bruinsma, Alpita de Jong and André Looijenga. Translated by David McKay, Michele Hutchison, Susan Massotty, Paul Vincent and David Colmer. Francis Boutle Publishers, 2018. PB. — *Swallows and Floating Horses: An Anthology of Frisian Literature*. ed. Ernst Bruinsma, Alpita de Jong and André Looijenga. Translated by David McKay, Michele Hutchison, Susan Massotty, Paul Vincent and David Colmer. Francis Boutle Publishers, 2018. PB.