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Asian Festival of Children’s Content

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At AFCC’s first-ever Translation Forum, we celebrate the tremendous efforts of those who translate children’s literature, especially stories authored in Languages Other Than English. Our speakers discuss why such efforts are necessary and how we can all encourage more widespread translation of children’s literature across multiple languages.

Translation

Hendarto Setiadi

Hendarto Setiadi (Indonesia)

Hendarto is a freelance translator who works from German and English into his native Bahasa Indonesia. He launched his career in the mid-1980s and to date has translated more than 100 titles, most of them books for children and young readers. Seeking to promote the profession in Indonesia, he joined Himpunan Penerjemah Indonesia (the Association of Indonesian Translators) in 2004 and has since held a number of positions. He currently serves on the advisory board of the organisation. He lives with his family in Bogor near Jakarta and enjoys working from home in the tranquility of his semi-rural surroundings.

Nicky Harman

Nicky Harman (UK)

Nicky is based in the UK and translates fiction, and occasionally non-fiction and poetry by contemporary Chinese authors. She has translated two novels by children’s author Huang Beijia: I Want to be Good (New Classic Press, 2022) and Flight of the Bumblebee (forthcoming). She has won several awards, including the 2020 China Special Book Award, the Mao Tai Cup People's Literature Chinese-English translation prize 2015, and the 2013 China International Translation Contest. When not translating, she works for the registered non-profit Paper Republic, which promotes Chinese literature in translation. She also runs literary events, writes blogs, and gives talks. Her home page is here: https://paper-republic.org/pers/nicky-harman/

Photo by Alex Hofford

Sawad Hussain

Sawad Hussain (UK)

Sawad is a translator from the Arabic whose work has been recognized by English PEN, the Anglo-Omani Society and the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, among others. A judge for the Palestine Book Awards and co-chair for the UK's Translator's Association, her recent translations include Passage to the Plaza and A Bed for the King’s Daughter. She has run workshops introducing translation to students and adults and is the 2022 translator in residence at the British Centre for Literary Translation. She tweets at @sawadhussain.

Julia Marshall

Moderator Julia Marshall (New Zealand)

Julia is the founder and publisher of Gecko Press, a small-by-choice independent publisher based in New Zealand of curiously good books for children since 2005. Gecko Press publishes a curated list of books in translation from some of the best writers and illustrators in the world for ages 0 to 12 (sometimes infinity). Gecko Press books celebrate unsameness. They offer different—sometimes challenging, often funny, thoughtful, inquisitive—ways of seeing the world. Gecko Press books are sold in English-speaking countries worldwide. Julia also translates children's books from Swedish to English.

Photo by Johnny Hendrikus

All programme dates and times are subject to change and existing COVID measures.

* : Pre-registration is required for in-person events. Seats are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

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