Articles

#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

#translationthurs Rebirth by Jahnavi Barua

I opted for my second review for this month, a book from India that was on the Man Asian prize a prize that disappeared ten years ago but for the few years it ran highlighted great Indian literature and from the rest of Asia . This book about mother and a child stuck with me. … Continue reading #translationthurs Rebirth by Jahnavi Barua

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Fire from the Sky

two boys kissing, with a mauve wash, against a background of blue patterns, with the title in orange and white

Fire from the Sky is the beautifully evocative story of Ánte, a young Sámi reindeer herder. Ánte loves his land and herding reindeer; he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps. But as the book begins, he has just realized he is attracted to his long-time good friend, Erik, who has a girlfriend but also … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Fire from the Sky

#translationthurs: Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras

I have chosen to revisit a number of my favorite books from the years of shadowing, and here we go back to 2011 and Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras. I picked this book because it is a book whose young character I connected with as I was a similar age to him. Also, it was a … Continue reading #translationthurs: Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras