From WILLEM GROENEWEGEN, translator
In 2002 I was fortunate enough to be allowed to make my debut as a translator of Dutch poetry in Arc’s Visible Poets series. I’d published some translations in an anthology and a few magazines, but I still see the Arc collection of Arjen Duinker’s work as my formal debut. Why? Even though they were a small publisher, their reputation spanned the globe. Everyone I talked to at the time was aware of Arc’s existence and of what they did. I was made aware of the fact – not by the Arc editors, but by poets and publishers abroad – that I wasn’t publishing with some small publishing house, I was publishing with Arc, a byword for quality poetry publications.
I have since gone on to become one of the Netherlands’ leading poetry translators into English, being shortlisted for the Popescu Prize for European Poetry in Translation in 2007 for my translations of Rutger Kopland, published in Dublin in 2006 by John F. Deane in his Waxwing Poems series. Even though such a nomination hadn´t befallen a single collection of Dutch poetry in English translation for eons, potential clients are still more impressed with seeing an Arc book on my CV. And many a Dutch poet has asked me whether I could apply for an Arc publication on their behalf. I naturally hope to one day be allowed to publish with Arc again.
In the meantime, I wish them all the very best. May Arc´s Visible Poets series continue for many years to come.