This article first appeared on the ALSC Blog on April 16, 2024. Reposted with permission. Not long ago, I asked a group of grade six English learners to do a “source language scavenger hunt,” finding middle grade and YA novels in the school library and recording the language in which each was written. I also … Continue reading It’s #WorldKidLit Weekend: Naming Source Languages and Translators Serves Young Readers
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#translationthurs: The Pine Islands, by Marion Poschmann
I move to 2019 and another book from the Booker International longlist. You may ask how I choose the books for each year. It may be a translator, or just a book I fondly remember. This is an example of both. Jen Calleja is a great translator and has also gone into publishing. This was … Continue reading #translationthurs: The Pine Islands, by Marion Poschmann
#translationthurs: The White Book, by Han Kang
One of the styles of prose I love most is patchwork fiction, which sits on the line between fiction and nonfiction, using vignettes to link a theme or story together. This book from Korea links tale vignettes around death and how death is celebrated/remembered around the world. I have often found solace in books like … Continue reading #translationthurs: The White Book, by Han Kang
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Movements and Moments
For all the hand wringing about young people not liking to read or even reading proficiently, there sure is a lot of gatekeeping by adults around what is and what is not appropriate for young people to read. Bracketing and suspending for a moment current book banning efforts in the United States, there are adults … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Movements and Moments
#translationthurs: Fish have no feet, by Jon Kalman Stefansson
When I was invited to do these posts for this month I had a number of writers I wanted to highlight. Today's post is a perfect example, few people write better about his homeland of Iceland than Jon Kalman Stefansson. This is also the first time Jon Kalman Stefansson has tackled a more modern-day Iceland … Continue reading #translationthurs: Fish have no feet, by Jon Kalman Stefansson
#translationthurs: A cup of rage, by Raduan Nassar
I now move to the first year of the Booker International Book Prize, as it is now called, starting with its current format. I have chosen a particular unique little book that happened to be translated by a publisher in his own right, Stefan Tobler. This powerful little book was a different book, a piece … Continue reading #translationthurs: A cup of rage, by Raduan Nassar
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: An Interview with Writer and Translator Eva Apelqvist
Eva Apelqvist is the author of the Swedish-language skateboard mystery Mörker över skateparken (2022 Swedish Mystery Academy Award for best mystery for children and young adults), Swede Dreams, LGBTQ FAMILIES: The Ultimate Teen Guide, and Getting Ready to Drive: A How To Guide in English, and the translator from Swedish into English of 2024 Michael L. … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: An Interview with Writer and Translator Eva Apelqvist
#translationthurs: The Ravens, by Tomas Bannerhed
I move on to a Swedish novel and another translator I like a lot, Sarah Death, This book arrived on a day I got another book that had a large black bird on the cover. I remember how odd that seemed. other book was Crow Blue by Adriana Lisboa. The Ravens, strangely enough, arrived the … Continue reading #translationthurs: The Ravens, by Tomas Bannerhed
#translationthurs: The Mussel Feast, by Brigit Vanderbeke
I move to 2014 and a book from the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. It is also from a publisher I love dearly. Peirene Press was set up to publish great novellas from around Europe. As the original publisher, Meike, said, the books are like a two-hour film that can be sat and read in an … Continue reading #translationthurs: The Mussel Feast, by Brigit Vanderbeke
#Translationthurs: Seven houses in France, by Bernardo Atxaga
Well, I'm over to 2012 and the second Shadow independent foreign fiction prize. I have chosen one of my all-time favourite writers, Bernardo Atxaga. I chose this because he has also written some children's literature that has been translated into English. I'd been looking forward to this novel as I had enjoyed his other books … Continue reading #Translationthurs: Seven houses in France, by Bernardo Atxaga
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 