Looking to dip your toe into the ocean of new graphic novels (in translation) for children and young adults? Reading the Eisners is the perfect approach. The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are the comic kingdom’s equivalent of the Oscars, with the winners announced annually at San Diego Comic Con. Children’s graphic novels in translation appear in the obvious … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The 2023 Eisner Nominees
by Miriam Udel Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s LiteratureEditor and translator, Miriam Udel. Foreword by Jack Zipes. With illustrations by Paula Cohen and original artists. NYU Press, 2020.ISBN-10 : 1479874132ISBN-13 : 978-1479874132 Imagine a rabbi who spends a sublime Sabbath in the desert hanging out with a friendly lion; a farm’s … Continue reading #Yiddishlitmonth: Honey on the Page
NM: Congratulations on the upcoming release on August 1 of your translation of Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup from Russian into English. It's a wonderful coming-of-age magical adventure and was a bestseller in Kazakhstan. How did the book find its way to you and then to Amazon Publishing? Was it an easy journey or one … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: An interview with Translator Shelley Fairweather-Vega
“Once upon a time, there was a girl who was called Little Yellow Riding Hood.” “No, red!” “Oh, right!” Little Red Riding Hood. Her mother called her one day and said, “Listen, Little Green Riding Hood…” “No, Red!” “Oh, right! Red. Her mother said: Now go to Aunt Hildegard’s house and take her this potato … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Telling Stories Wrong*
Review by: Jennifer Baltes Oksi by Mari Ahokoivu Poorling doesn’t fit in. She’s not a bear cub, like her brothers, and with her tiny, upright body and flame-shaped head, she doesn’t look like anything in the forest. She desperately wants to be a bear: fierce, strong, and loved by her bear mother, Umi. As Poorling’s … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: Oksi by Mari Ahokoivu, translated by Silja-Maaria Aronpuro
Long ago, animals and people from different clans lived together in the Kalahari. One of the clans was the San. The San men hunted with bows and arrows, while the women cooked food in clay pots that they made themselves. One day, a huge sandstorm came from the sky, and when it was over everything … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: !Qhoi n|a Tjhoi. Skilpad en Volstruis. Tortoise and Ostrich
Known as the Oscars of the comics world, the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are traditionally given every summer at San Diego Comic Con. Due to COVID-19, the ceremony was virtual in 2021, when the awards featured 33 categories. Books for children in translation can be found in a number of them. The pickings were … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The 2021 Eisner Award Nominations
You can learn a lot about a nation’s history, culture and aspirations by reading its literature. A number of Qatari authors have made their work available in the English language, making it easy for a global audience to read the country’s historical fiction, magical fantasy and folk tales. Qatari author Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud’s writing depicts the … Continue reading #QATARILITMONTH: Contemporary Qatari Literature: Fiction from an Urban Desert
A novel for tweens and young teens, The Girl and the Ghost is based on a Malaysian folk tale. It’s much more than a simple retelling, as author Hanna Alkaf has fleshed out the story with richly drawn characters, creating a marvelous tale about friendship, family, jealousy, and love. As the story goes, there was … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: The Girl and the Ghost
“It is boundlessly difficult to be a stranger. Your usual ways of behaving bear no fruit: if your habits are not fit for purpose, you might as well be a wheel off its axle, alone over and over again.” “I am a stranger at home, and I am nobody abroad.” A common trope in folklore … Continue reading Literature of Exile: Hamid Ismailov and Exile as Folktale
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 