Translating the Details: How Small Word Choices Make Big Worlds
PresentationNgo Ha Thu | Moderator: Amanda Ruiqing Flynn
Festival Pass| Festival Talk Pass
Translators of children’s literature act as caretakers of the mirrors and windows stories offer. Drawing on her experience translating between Vietnamese and English, this presentation by Ha Thu will explore how small translation choices—from preserving accent marks to keeping poetic rhythms alive—can widen the worlds children see and step into.
This session is supported by the National Translation Committee.
translationstorytellingsoutheast asia
Ngo Ha Thu (Vietnam)
Thu Ngo Ha has been a literary translator since 2012. While her works span a variety of genres Thu is most notably associated with children’s literature. Some of her significant English – Vietnamese translations include Wendelin Van Draanen’s Flipped, Beatrix Potter’s A Very Naughty Rabbit, Benji Davies’s The Storm Whale, Oliver Jeffers’s Here We Are and works by Dr. Seuss. With a Master degree in Cultural Studies (Sydney), she taught translation and interpretation at the University of Languages and International Studies, VNU Hanoi until 2018. She is also an active speaker and trainer, sharing her expertise in translation through public events and publications.
Amanda Ruiqing Flynn (Singapore)
Amanda Ruiqing Flynn works across words and images. She was a winner of the Golden Point Award 2025. Her prose and poetry have been featured in Best New Singaporean Short Stories (Epigram Books), Oyster River Pages, ONE ART: a journal of poetry, QLRS and This Is Southeast Asia. Her visual art has been exhibited internationally in both solo and group exhibitions. She serves as a judge of The Voices of Today Literary Translation Prize 2026. Raised in East Sussex, UK, she now resides in Singapore, her birthplace. She spends her free time moonlighting as a librarian at Casual Poet Library and conjuring up stories with her young son.
Programme dates and times are subject to change.