Rivers

A critically acclaimed, award-winning collection drawing sparkling prose from the inspiration of three rivers passing through different times and places.

On the storm-swollen Aisne in northeastern France, an alcoholic actor combats both his demons and nature’s tempests. Along the Main and Rhine in Germany, a kindhearted logger has but one wish: to travel with the lumber from his small Franconian hometown to the end of the river in the Netherlands, where it feeds into the majestic North Sea. In a bucolic vale in the French region of Brittany, two families, divided by religion and an unnamed stream, sustain a centuries-old feud, their resolve no match for the constantly shifting flow of water.

These three stories span countries and eras, but they are all connected by, and reliant on, the unpredictable power and languid beauty of rivers that give life as quickly as they take it away.

Martin Michael Driessen is a Dutch opera and theater director, translator, and writer. He made his debut in 1999 with the novel Gars, followed by Vader van God (Father of God, 2012) and Een ware held (A True Hero, 2013), both of which were broadly reviewed and nominated for literary prizes. In 2015 his novel Lizzie, written with the highly acclaimed and award-winning poet Liesbeth Lagemaat, was published under the pseudonym Eva Wanjek. Rivieren (Rivers, 2016) was awarded the prestigious ECI Literature Prize (formerly the AKO), the Readers Prize, and the Inktaap Prize, shortlisted for the Fintro Literature Prize, and nominated for the Halewijn Prize. His latest novel, De pelikaan (The Pelican, 2017), was shortlisted for the Libris Prize. His work has been translated into English, Italian, German, Spanish, Slovenian, and Hungarian.

About the Translator

Jonathan Reeder, a native of upstate New York and longtime resident of Amsterdam, enjoys a dual career as a literary translator and performing musician. Along with his work as a professional bassoonist, he translates opera libretti and essays on classical music as well as contemporary Dutch fiction and poetry. His first two translated novels―The Cocaine Salesman, by Conny Braam, and Bonita Avenue, by Peter Buwalda―were longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and Bram Dehouck’s comic thriller A Sleepless Summer (winner of the 2012 Golden Noose) was selected by the Sunday Times Crime Club as a ‘December pick.’ Additional English translations include novels and short stories by Mano Bouzamour, Christine Otten, Hanna Bervoets, and A.F.Th. van der Heijden.