Why aren’t more children’s books published in translation?
Date November, 24 2021
Location Live Zoom Webinar
Held in collaboration with The Bookseller, the webinar titled “Why aren’t more children’s books published in translation?” hosted by the managing director of Al Salwa Publishers Salwa Shakhshir, alongside senior commissioning editor and business development manager at Nosy Crow Tom Bonnick, and chair of UK’s International Board on Books for Young People, Pam Dix.
Moderated by Tom Tivnan, The Bookseller managing editor, the panelists discussed the global market for children’s literature and how children’s fiction can bridge different cultures.
The panel discussion covered the following areas:
- The market for global children’s literature - trends, countries/languages, genres.
- How children’s fiction can bridge different cultures / markets, tackle social/political issues,
- Diversity in children’s fiction
- Funding for translating children’s fiction (including grants, prizes)
- International sales for children’s fiction - inc. translation rights / co-edition deals
- Challenges of translating children’s books
- Digital opportunities for international children’s fiction
- Importance of illustration in cutting through to different markets- inc. graphic novels
Highlights from the session are available for viewing on (link). The full session is available for viewing via (link)
Speakers
Salwa Shakhshir
Salwa Shakhshir is the managing director of Al Salwa Publishers, an award-winning boutique publishing house that specializes in creating original Arabic content for children and young adults.
Salwa took over a small home-run family business and turned it into an award-winning publishing house that implements state of the art book publishing procedures and processes. She has trained and empowered a young team of motivated individuals with attention to detail and a united goal.
Her efforts have given Al Salwa’s boutique publishing house the ability to present quality content, creative design and productions. She believes in the strength of Arabic talent be it content, design or creativity.
Many of Al Salwa’s titles have won awards and were translated into over 10 foreign languages.
Salwa holds a BA in Mass Communication from the Lebanese American University in Beirut.
Tom Bonnick
Senior Commissioning Editor and Business Development Manager at Nosy
Crow
Tom Bonnick joined Nosy Crow in 2011 and is the company’s Senior Commissioning Editor and Business Development Manager. Tom commissions fiction for the Nosy Crow list, from young illustrated fiction to middle grade, and also manages Nosy Crow’s audio publishing. In 2015 he was named Young Independent Publisher of the Year at the IPG Independent Publishing Awards and one of The Bookseller’s Rising Stars, was a Digital Book World Fellow in 2016, and was selected as an Arts Council England/ Bologna Children’s Book Fair Fellow in 2019. He is the Chair of the IPG Children’s Special Interest Group, and has mentored for the IPG, SYP, and Creative Access.
Pam Dix
Chair of IBBY UK
Pam Dix was a librarian and lecturer in children’s literature. She is the chair of IBBY UK (International Board of Books for Young People). IBBY Italia established the Silent Book Project, initially to work with refugee groups, and IBBY UK manages the UK tours of these books and other IBBY international collections. Working with IBBY Europe, Pam organises a biennial conference at the Bologna
Children’s Book Fair. She also works with two charities involved with library and book provision in sub Saharan Africa. Pam has recently edited the proceedings of the 2016 IBBY World Congress, published as Children’s literature in a multiliterate world, by Trentham Books at UCL IOE Press. She is currently working on a book exploring the history of illustration in children’s information books.
Tom Tivnan
Tom Tivnan leads The Bookseller's in-depth coverage and special issues. Before joining The Bookseller in 2007, he worked as a bookseller for Blackwell's in the UK and Barnes & Noble in the US. He is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, Harper's Bazaar and Monocle. His debut novel is The Esquimaux (Silvertail, 2017).