Today’s post comes to you from Brenda Rupp Few heroines in historical fiction fight for survival as fiercely as Catrin in Midnight Blue. Catrin is thrust into survival mode after the death of her abusive husband, leaving her to manage the farm alone while rumors swirl through the village surrounding his death. Still grieving the loss … Continue reading #WITMonth: “Midnight Blue” by Simone van der Vlugt
"Deep in the forest sat a little house. The witch who lived in the house was very old. She was so old even her wrinkles were wrinkled. But one day she went for a walk and never returned.” So starts The Little House That Needed a Witch, a whimsically charming picture book for readers age … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Little House That Needed a Witch
Today’s post comes to you from Angie Erickson The dinner party may be one of literature’s most easily translated pressure chambers. Four people sit down intending to perform friendship, coupledom, sophistication, and hospitality; by dessert, the performance has collapsed. This is the setup of Just a Little Dinner, Katherine Gregor’s English translation of Cécile Tlili’s 2023 … Continue reading #WITMonth: “Just a Little Dinner” by Cecile Tlili
Today’s post comes to you from DiAnna Pantano There is something particularly unsettling about the dystopian worlds Agustina Bazterrica creates. Worlds that are close enough to our own to unsettle us, but ambiguous enough that we can never quite pinpoint how, or when, everything went so wrong. The Unworthy follows in the footsteps of Tender Is … Continue reading #WITMonth: “The Unworthy” (Las indignas)
Today’s post comes to you from Kimberly Wong Supersaurio by Meryem El Mehdati is a smart, searing, and painfully relatable workplace satire. Originally published in Spanish in 2022, its English edition was translated by Julia Sanches and released in November 2025. The novel, categorized as autofiction, follows Meryem through her internship in the corporate offices of … Continue reading #WITMonth: Supersaurio by Meryem El Mehdati
Today’s post comes to you from Anisha Wilmink Our weird and not-so-wonderful world as seen by Sayaka Murata Sayaka Murata, who works with translator Ginny Tapley Takemori, is known for her short novels that confront and challenge our expectations of social norms and the “right” way to lead a life. I first came across Murata when … Continue reading #WITMonth: Sayaka Murata
Last week the 40th IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Congress was hosted by IBBY Canada in Ottawa, Canada, with 500+ attendees from 60 countries in attendance. The theme was "Listening to Each Other's Voices" -- and it was echoed across all the sessions, with a special focus on Indigenous and endangered languages … Continue reading #WorldKidLit: IBBY & GLLI
Today’s post comes to you from Erin えりん The curation of reality through language in Rie Qudan’s "Sympathy Tower Tokyo" August 11 is Mountain Day (Yama no Hi) in Japan, celebrated annually in appreciation of the country's mountainous regions. The choice of date is related to the Kanji character for the number 8 (八), which visually … Continue reading #WITMonth: “Sympathy Tower Tokyo”
Today’s post comes to you from Nadine Bailey Ann-Helén Laestadius’s Punished is a profound, deeply unsettling exploration of systemic oppression, extinguishing of language, intergenerational trauma, and the enduring struggle to reclaim cultural identity. It is a narrative based on the author’s family story* that forces readers to confront a dark and often overlooked chapter of Scandinavian … Continue reading #WITMonth: “Punished”
First published in Singapore in 2021, the picture book Marvellous Mammals is now available worldwide and a valuable resource for learning about the geography and wildlife of Southeast Asia. Each letter in English corresponds to the name of a mammal that lives in the region (though the author is helped by the fact that the mammals go … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Marvellous Mammals
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 