Sharing Stories

An exciting part of making books is to see them translated into other languages. There is a visual and tactile joy in seeing your pictures and words appear in a different language. And the thought of sharing your stories, ideas, values, hopes, and dreams in far away places and cultures is humbling and exciting!

BUNNY SHOULD BE SLEEPING

By Renata Liwska and Amy Hest
In Korean, Japanese, German, and Czech.

Publishers from South Korea, Japan, as well as China have been great supporters of Renata’s books. The typographical treatment for asian language books are particularly exciting. And the thought of a book being shared with a child in their own native tongue is pretty amazing.

German publishers (French too) have also published many of Renata’s books. After leaving Poland just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Renata lived in Germany for a few years, and that was a special moment in her life. It was the first time she experienced true freedom, intellectually and physically – she had a small apartment of her own, something she had never dreamed would be possible. And she learned enough German to read Kafka in his original language which she was pretty proud of.

Last but not least, this is the first time one of Renata’s books has been published in the Czech Republic. One of Renata’s first artistic influences was The Little Mole, a Czech cartoon that she watched as a child. She often shows me clips from the show – the cartoon brings her so much joy! And I can see the influence of the drawing and storytelling from Krteček in her work.