Reading with your ears

A brilliant article on the trickiness and stakes of translation over on the Guardian's website.

"It has to sound as though it were written in English – though with enough of the accent of the original to remind you constantly, in reading, of the text's beginnings... The translator's art is a transparent, inconspicuous one."

As promised

And for the vile unbelievers or the faithless incredulous, me on a snowskithingy during my WORK trip in the Alps:

Told you so

Didn't I, though? Didn't tell you the Moomins are great? Yes, I did and it looks like I'm not the only one of that opinion:

I love this book, and all the other Moomin adventures, because they are exciting and the characters are very well described. The way Tove Jansson, the Finnish author, writes about Moominvalley just makes you want to live there!

The rest of the review is on the Guardian children's bookclub.
So there.

Even though I never liked Snow White...

... one must admit that Angela Barrett's vision of She of the Apple is quite fabulous. Check out the feature on this and her other works in the Guardian. It's here.

In Bologna... in spirit

Yes, top shelf, smash bang in the middle, it's me!
(And in excellent company, you'll note, n'est-ce pas Alice?)
Thanks to the CBI crowd who bumped into one of my publishers' stall in Bologna and thought of taking a photo!

Award season

While you're desperately waiting for the winners of the Bisto Book of the Year Award, here are another two shortlists to keep you busy.


The CARNEGIE MEDAL has announced its selection for the 2011 prize:
"The importance of finding common ground and forging friendships across seemingly unbridgeable divides forms a unifying theme for the six novels for young people on the 2011 CILIP Carnegie Medal shortlist, announced today."

BRESLIN, THERESA PRISONER OF THE INQUISITION
McCAUGHREAN GERALDINE THE DEATH DEFYING PEPPER ROUX
NESS, PATRICK MONSTERS OF MEN
ROSOFF, MEG THE BRIDE'S FAREWELL
SEDGWICK, MARCUS WHITE CROW
WALLACE, JASON OUT OF SHADOWS

The KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL shortlist for 2011 (for illustrated books):
Grahame Baker-Smith Farther

Anthony Browne Me And You
Bob Graham April Underhill, Tooth Fairy
Mini Grey (text by Hilaire Belloc) Jim
Oliver Jeffers The Heart And The Bottle
Kristin Oftedal (text by Carl Norac) Big Bear Little Brother
Catherine Rayner Ernest
Juan Wijngaard (text by Mal Peet & Elspeth Graham) Cloud Tea Monkeys


Winners to be announced on Thursday 23 June. For more, here's the website.

Astrid Lindgren Award

As is now the tradition, the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Award was announced this week at the Bologna Bookfair and this year's winner is Australian writer-illustrator Shaun Tan. For more on this fab news, head over there.