Otto de Kat writes for PEN Atlas about the risks and benefits of using history in the novel, a device that when used badly can lead to over-writing and when used well serves the novelist like a butler.
We begin PEN Atlas in 2013 with Michele Hutchison, who reports on the 'High Impact' tour that will bring Dutch authors to the UK later this month
Over a million copies sold, multiple translations, a stage adaptation - does Herman Koch's The Dinner show us a new way for Dutch literature? Michele Hutchison investigates for PEN Atlas