De Engelse vertaling van De omweg (The Detour) van Gerbrand Bakker heeft de Independent Foreign Fiction Prize gewonnen. De Independent Foreign Fiction Prize ‘honours the best work of fiction by a living author, which has been translated into English from any other language and published in the United Kingdom. Uniquely, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize gives the winning author and translator equal status: each receives £5,000 and a magnum of champagne.’

De jury oordeelt:

Swift-moving and apparently straightforward, but with mysterious hidden depths, The Detour is a novel that grips its reader tight and never lets go. Gerbrand Bakker’s tale of a Dutchwoman who goes missing from her own troubled life and seeks refuge in rural Wales combines mesmeric storytelling with an uncanny sense of place, and an atmosphere of brooding, irresistible menace. In David Colmer’s pitch-perfect and immersive translation, this book will both linger in your imagination and, quite possibly, haunt your dreams as well.

Eerdere winnaars van de Independent Foreign Fiction Prize waren Orhan Pamuk (1990), Milan Kundera (1991), Paul Verhaeghen (2008) en Aharon Appelfeld (2012). Drie jaar geleden viel ook al een vertaling van Bakker in de prijzen. Met de vertaling van Boven is het stil (The Twin) won de schrijver toen de International Impac Dublin Literary Award.