‘Maybe this is the last time he will walk down the familiar corridor as the man called Noon Merckem, that door there on the left with those welcoming panes of glass could mean the end of his existence, weak in the knees like a man being dragged to the gallows, that’s how he feels in this instant’
David McKay
Born and educated in the United States, David McKay is an award-winning translator of Dutch fiction and non-fiction
He holds degrees in philosophy, linguistics and international relations, and has lived in and around The Hague since 1997.
His literary translations include War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2017, and Multatuli’s classic Max Havelaar (a joint translation with Ina Rilke for NYRB Classics), as well as contributions to the Penguin Book of Dutch Short Stories.
He has given talks, led workshops, and written articles on translation topics, served as a judge for translation prizes, contributed to Dutch-English dictionaries, and acted as an adviser to the American Translators Association and the Dutch Foundation for Literature.
He is the translator of Anjet Daanje’s The Remembered Soldier, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.
Author photo supplied by Scribe UK
In Daanje’s hands, and in McKay’s intuitive translation, the ravages and shellshock of the First World War are superbly traced
The International Booker Prize 2026 judges on The Remembered Soldier
All nominated books
Stefan Hertmans’ imaginative reconstruction of a damaged life across the tumultuous decades of the 20th century; a deeply moving portrayal of family, grief, love and war
Translated by David McKay
Set in the aftermath of the First World War, this is an extraordinary love story about the power of memory and imagination
By Anjet Daanje
Translated by David McKay
