#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Born a Girl: It Takes Courage

Posted on by Nanette McGuinness
a cluster of five girls of different ethnicities against a reddish-orange backgraound with green, purple, and orange leaves around them and white lettering for the title and subtitle in the upper left corner

Equal parts Our Bodies, Ourselves, Margaret Mead, and biology/history explainer, Born a Girl: It Takes Courage is an approachable feminist manifesto for today's teens that embraces difficult topics. Organized around the fictionalized stories of five teenage girls---one each from Nepal, France, Afghanistan, Kenya, and Mexico---this nonfiction YA illustrated book lays out a frank, sympathetic description … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Born a Girl: It Takes Courage

#WITMONTH 2025: Tove Jansson & Islands

Posted on by Rebecca Starr

To close out Women in Translation Month 2025, I'm pleased to share educator Nadine Bailey's review of the work of beloved author and artist Tove Jansson. Currently, all of Jansson's fiction is checked out of my library, which is a normal occurrence. Read on to learn more about her fascinating and timeless work for adults. … Continue reading #WITMONTH 2025: Tove Jansson & Islands

#WITMONTH 2025: Taiwan Travelogue

Posted on by Rebecca Starr

Pseudotranslation is not a new literary form (Don Quixote, 1605/15, is a notable example), though the term itself is fairly young. One such current novel that’s popular in my library is translator Jennifer Croft’s 2024 mystery, The Extinction of Irena Rey. I very much hope that its readers will move on to Yáng Shuāng-Zǐ’s equally … Continue reading #WITMONTH 2025: Taiwan Travelogue

#WITMONTH 2025: Speculative Fiction

Posted on by Rebecca Starr

When I’m asked for books that are great introductions to the genre of speculative fiction, I often turn to Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler or The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. Women have been writing - and continue to write - exceptional speculative fiction. Reading speculative fiction in translation is a fun … Continue reading #WITMONTH 2025: Speculative Fiction

#WITMONTH 2025: Surreal Stories by South Korean Authors

Posted on by Rebecca Starr

If you’re looking for stories that blend horror, humor, and a dash of magic, you’ll find many appealing works by South Korean authors now in translation.  One novel that is representative of this sub-genre is The Disaster Tourist, by Yun Ko-Eun. It was originally published in 2013, while the English translation (by Lizzie Buehler) was … Continue reading #WITMONTH 2025: Surreal Stories by South Korean Authors

#WITMONTH 2025: Latin American Horror

Posted on by Rebecca Starr

Over the past few years, there have been many hits by Mexican and South American women with English translation, particularly horror stories and surreal tales. One author who appeals to horror and speculative fiction readers with a dark side is Agustina Bazterrica. Agustina Bazterrica’s short novels stay with you long after the last sentence. Her … Continue reading #WITMONTH 2025: Latin American Horror

Welcome to #WITMONTH 2025

Posted on by Rebecca Starr

Welcome, WITty readers! I am Rebecca, and I am very happy to be joining GLLI as a guest curator this August. A bit about me: I have been a public librarian for 12 years. For the past six years, I have served as the Literature & Language Librarian at Portland Public Library in Portland, Maine, … Continue reading Welcome to #WITMONTH 2025

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: ashimpa: the mysterious word

Posted on by Nanette McGuinness

A deliciously absurd grammatical romp of a picture book, ashimpa: the mysterious word begins when a researcher rediscovered a long-lost word that has resurfaced "by chance in a dusty old dictionary: ASHIMPA. Quickly, the news spread. Everyone wanted to use this exciting discovery—but no one knew exactly how. No one knew what the word meant, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: ashimpa: the mysterious word

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Snowglobe

Posted on by Nanette McGuinness

A 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor Book and the first fabulous volume in a sci-fi duology, Snowglobe is set in a post-apocalyptic, post-climate-change world. Life for the lower class is cold and brutal. Most labor daily to create electricity via giant human-powered hamster wheels, except for the lucky few who live in … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Snowglobe

#African Lit: April Round Up

Posted on by K Rostan

Given that May is already underway, a better suited title for this blog would be "April's African Lit Afterparty." But, April's guest blogs warrant revisiting regardless the month! Many thanks to our guest bloggers, Bridget Pitt, Caroline Kurtz, and Bridget Krone, who shared books spanning diverse genres and settings in the African continent--from Ethiopian life-writing, … Continue reading #African Lit: April Round Up