Today’s post comes to you from Judie Oron Thirty-five years ago, I found myself huddling in the passenger seat of a run-down Ethiopian government taxi. We were parked beside a tiny kiosk in a dusty market town in the north of Ethiopia. I was negotiating payment for an Ethiopian child slave named Wuditu and I … Continue reading #WorldKidLit: Ethiopian Purchase
Today’s post comes to you from Maryaan Kimutai There is something interesting about growing up in Africa and reading about the rest of the world. Through books, we become familiar with places we have never visited, people we have never met and societies we have only encountered through the imagination of writers. We learn to … Continue reading #ReadingAfrica: Finding Africa in its Literature
Today’s post comes to you from Tayla Mocke Crossing Pages, Crossing Borders: An Exploration into the Movement of People, Stories, and Ideas #ReadingAfrica turns 10 this year! Catalyst Press launched the campaign back in 2017 because we wanted to celebrate just how vast and varied African literature really is. And every year since, more teachers, … Continue reading #ReadingAfricaWeek 2026 thanks to The Catalyst Press
Today’s post comes to you from Vashalice Kaaba Welcome, everyone, to Reading Africa Month at the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative! As Executive Director, I am delighted to welcome you to a month of discovery, conversation, and appreciation for African literature. Throughout November, we will celebrate the continent’s authors, publishers, and storytelling traditions, while also … Continue reading #ReadingAfrica: Stories That Remember: A Welcome to Reading Africa Week & Month
At GLLI, we have been paying attention to several U.S. and international awards that specifically honor and encourage translators and publishers to bring the best literary work from around the world to English readers. As of this writing, long and short listed titles are available on the award websites - and several winners have been … Continue reading And the Winners Are… (Best Translated Global Literature for Academic, Public, and High School Libraries): 2025-2026
Posted on behalf of the World Kid Lit people Win International Books for your School Library! Do you have a Read the World display anywhere in your school? Have any students (or staff) in your school completed a reading challenge or reading project with an international dimension this year? If either is true, enter the … Continue reading #WorldKidLit: Schools’ International Reading Award 2026
In a dystopian parallel world, all people are governed by their Instincts and subjects of the totalitarian We. The instincts are complementary abilities that keep society running smoothly. There are Makers and Repairers, Helpers and Healers, Calculators and Welcomers, and more. The We’s rules include the principle “All instincts are equal,” but as in George … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: We
WHEW! Co-editing the Focus on Japan posts that appeared throughout September, #WorldKidLit Month, reminded us of the abundance of translations from Japan for young people. We can confirm with surety that if you hope to globalize the youth literature collection in your library, home, classroom, or bookshop, translations from Japan are available to you in … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Month Focus on Japan: Keep Reading!
Today's post comes to you from Arthur Reiji Morris: The Forest of Wool and Steel by Natsu Miyashita / Translated by Philip Gabriel (Black Swan Books, 2020) The protagonist of The Forest of Wool and Steel is Toyama, a young man with an unconventional dream: to become a piano tuner. Of course, this isn’t the … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Month: Four Japanese Novels About Relationships Suitable for Teen Readers
Today’s post comes to you from Zack Davisson: Every kid in Japan grows up on Shigeru Mizuki. He is the Yokai Hakase—the Yokai Professor—who educates the children of Japan on the folklore that is so elemental to their culture. Nearly every piece of popular Japanese entertainment, from Pokémon to One Piece to Godzilla to whatever … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Month Focus on Japan: Shigeru Mizuki—The Yokai Professor
