Lost Voices, Found Words: Reclaiming the Mother Tongue Through Children’s Books in Indonesia
PresentationEva Nukman | Moderator: Nur-El Hudaa Jafar
Festival Pass| Festival Talk Pass
Discover how translation can help reclaim children’s connection to their mother tongue. In this presentation, through stories from Indonesia, Eva Nukman shares how writers, translators, and educators collaborate to revive local languages, creating picture books that empower young readers and celebrate the richness of multilingual childhoods.
translationlanguage learninghistory
Eva Nukman (Indonesia)
Eva Nukman is a writer and editor specializing in children’s literature and literacy advocacy. Her works have received international recognition for their creativity and quality. One of them, Misteri di Pasar Terapung (A Mystery at the Floating Market), won the Samsung Kidstime Author’s Award 2015 in Singapore. Passionate about stories that inspire and nurture imagination, Eva has edited and mentored hundreds of children’s manuscripts for Litara Foundation, Room to Read, Let’s Read, and other institutions. Known for her attention to detail and commitment to excellence, she believes every word and illustration should create a meaningful reading experience. Through Litara, she champions multilingual literacy and the celebration of local voices in children’s books.
Nur-El Hudaa Jafar (Singapore)
Nur-El-Hudaa is an editorial consultant and a published author and translator of children’s picture books, short stories and poetry. She has received awards such as the inaugural Mastera Prize for poetry translation and the Golden Point Award for her short stories and translation. In 2023, she was selected by the National Arts Council to join the Virtual Residency programme for poetry translation at the National Centre for Writing in UK. As an editorial consultant, she helps writers and publishers develop books for publication. Nur-El-Hudaa volunteers with the National Library Board as a storyteller.
Programme dates and times are subject to change.