When I was a kid, I loved to count all sorts of things, as so many children do. Because numbers are fascinating! Even the names are cool: long before there was Google, there were googols and googolplexes. In Stars and Poppy Seeds, a picture book for ages 3-7, Flora is the child of mathematicians. And … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Stars and Poppy Seeds
For those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, it's currently winter, which is my favorite season. Yes, I may have been born in the Caribbean, but I feel more at ease when it is colder outside. I can wear cozy clothes, avoid the sun, and not contend with the oppressive humidity of the southern … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Winter Train
“Would you like to come with me on a journey beyond the stars?” So asks a friendly flying whale that young Ida meets when she’s half asleep. Who could resist such an enticing invitation? Not I. Nor Ida. And so we enter a dreamy fantasy world as we join Ida and the whale on their … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Ida and the Whale
Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest is a fascinating, informative, nonfiction book about the wonderful ecology of forests. Written by forester and global advocate Peter Wohlleben, it’s full of appealing color illustrations, quizzes, sidebars, and activities. All laid out in two-page spreads perfectly geared to readers age 8-12, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest
Today I am ceding editing rights to my friend and colleague Betsy Bird, an award winning children's author and librarian... Children’s books are written years in advance of their publication dates. A book being written at this very moment may take anywhere between two to five years to reach library and bookstore shelves. As such, … Continue reading Hope and Hardship: The Picture Book As Exile Narrative
In Brown, a spare, quirky, satisfying book for middle grade readers, we meet Rusty, aka superhero Brown, at a rocky time in his life. His grandfather dies soon after his family moves to be nearby. A group of three bullies—including the minister’s son—destroy the fort that Rusty and his friend Jack have been building. Rusty … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Brown
Here at And Other Stories we believe that great literature is great literature, wherever it comes from. Since starting out in 2011, we’ve built a varied list of great literature in translation and originally in English, both fiction and non-fiction (and even a little poetry). We started out at a time, after the financial crash, … Continue reading #TranslatedLit Introduction to And Other Stories by Nicky Smalley
One of A Midsummer Night's Press' most recent titles, published just before the pandemic started, is a translation from the Slovene in our Body Language imprint: Tracing the Unspoken by Milan Šelj, translated by the author with Harvey Vincent. This is Milan's fourth poetry collection for adults, but his debut in English. He is also … Continue reading #TranslatedLit Poet & translator Milan Šelj talks to A Midsummer Night’s Press publisher Lawrence Schimel
Though Lithuania has yet to export a Jo Nesbo styled writer of thrillers, or a Baltic Henning Mankell, an increasing number of its most respected authors are now finding their way into the hands of English readers. Over the last few years, Noir Press has published six writers (seven novels): three women and three men. … Continue reading #TranslatedLit The Dark Undergrowth of Lithuanian Literary Fiction by Stephan Collishaw
The world of books is dominated by the five giants of publishing. Whether we like it or not, these are the continents that define the literary globe. (Noir Press Founder Stephan Collishaw) But sometimes it’s good to go exploring and find something new. Something different. Little islands, overgrown and unknown, where you have to hack … Continue reading #TranslatedLit The Unexplored Island of Literary Lithuania by Stephan Collishaw
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 