Award-winning Dutch author declines assignment to translate Amanda Gorman's works

'I am shocked by the uproar around my involvement in the dissemination of Amanda Gorman's message, and I understand people who feel hurt by the choice of Meulenhoff to ask me, ' said Rijneveld, who writes poetry as well as novels. Photo: AFP

A writer who was chosen to translate American poet Amanda Gorman's work into Dutch has handed back the assignment following criticism that a white author was selected to translate the words of a Black woman who is the youngest inaugural poet in US history.

Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, who last year became the youngest writer to win the International Booker Prize with her novel The Discomfort Of Evening, announced the decision in a Twitter post recently.