Translating any book is a challenge, but bringing books from around the world into the laps of young readers requires a special combination of passions: cultural compassion and respect, an ear for poetry, an ability to emulate another's voice in spirit as well as on the page, and accessibility. 

For Found In Translation, we've assembled a panel of the often-unsung writers and editors toiling behind the pages, sometimes without attribution, to talk about the nuances and beauty of creating books in translation and the wish to unlock cultures for young readers. Please join us live December 14, 2:00 - 3:00 pm ET/11:00 am - 12:00 pm PT

Panelists:

David Bowles (author, translator) is a Mexican American author and translator from South Texas. Among his multiple award-winning titles are The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas; Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico; Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Maya Poetry; and Ancient Night. David presently serves as the vice-president of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Lyn Miller-Lachman (author, translator) translates children’s and YA books from Portuguese to English. Among her publications are picture books Three Balls of Wool (Can Change the World) and The President of the Jungle, and the YA graphic novel Pardalita. She is the author of four novels for teen readers, including Torch, winner of the 2023 L.A. Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature. She co-authored, with Zetta Elliott, the middle grade verse novel Moonwalking, and wrote the picture book Ways to Play, illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo.

Sara Lissa Paulson (librarian, reviewer, translator) is the translator of the New York Times' bestseller Book of Questions, Selections / Libro de Preguntas, Selecciones by Pablo Neruda, Luna Ranchera by Rodrigo Morlesin, and The Amazing and True Story of Tooth Mouse Pérez. She recently retired after 25 years of service as a school librarian for NYC schools, worked for seven years as an adjunct professor in Queens College's Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, and has reviewed books for School Library Journal since 2008. Her newest hobbies are landscaping with native plants and creating ephemeral and useful sculptures with plant fibers.

Nick Thomas (editor) is Executive Editor at Levine Querido in the U.S. He has previously held roles at Bloomsbury, Chicken House, David Fickling Books, and Arthur A. Levine Books. Nick works on books of all kinds, including picture books, novels, graphic novels, and nonfiction. He has worked on translations from Mexico, Colombia, Korea, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Finland, China, and France.

Emilie Robert Wong (editor, translator) is an associate editor at Enchanted Lion, where she edits many works in translation. Growing up in a French Chinese American family, she attended school in the French national education system before studying comparative literature and neuroscience at Harvard College. In addition to the French picture book At the Drop of a Cat, she also co-translated Beatrice Alemagna's You Can't Kill Snow White, in a translation praised by the New York Times as "lucid" and shortlisted for the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative's Translated Young Adult Book Prize. Her favorite stories inspire wonder and realization, imagination and connection.
 

Kimberly Fakih (moderator) is senior editor of picture books at SLJ. Her interest in translated books for children began as a pre-reader and in frustration over the Norwegian-only text of a bestselling picture book, Ole Aleksander Filibom-bom-bom. 

Register on the Zoom events page.