Translating Picture Books

Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is a literary translator working from Arabic, German and Russian into English. She translates fiction and nonfiction, with a particular interest in history, historical fiction, and writing for children and young adults. Ruth co-edits 3 blogs about translation and children’s literature: World Kid Lit, ArabKidLitNow! and Russian Kid Lit. She’s an active champion of world literature for children, especially in September, #WorldKidLitMonth.

Daniel Hahn is an award-winning writer, editor and translator with some eighty books to his name. His translations include fiction and non-fiction for adults and children, from Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Lawrence Schimel writes in both Spanish and English and also translates in both directions. His translations into English have won a Highly Commended Award in the 2020 CLiPPA, a PEN Translates Award from English PEN (twice), and a National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship, among other honors. He was one of the original founders of WorldKidLitMonth & lives in Madrid, Spain.

Helen Wang is a UK-based translator and promoter of Chinese children’s books into English. Her translations include picture books and middle-grade novels. She works collaboratively with World Kid Lit, the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing, Paper Republic and other groups, and in 2016 started the blog-site Chinese Books for Young Readers with children’s literature scholar Minjie Chen and translator Anna Gustafsson Chen.