Growing up here, there and everywhere in EU

Project duration: 1 September 2015–31 December 2016

Supported works into Slovene language:
– Jonas Gardell: En komikers uppväxt / Kako je odraščal komik, translated from Swedish by Dr. Nada Grošelj
– Jānis Jonevs: Jelgava ´94 / Metalci ’94*, translated from Latvian by Jedrt Lapuh Maležič
– Petra Dvořáková: Julie mezi slovy / Julija med besedami, translated from Czech by Diana Pungeršič
– Anna Woltz: Mijn bijzonder rare week met Tess / Nenavaden teden s Tesso, translated from Dutch by Katjuša Ručigaj
– Beate Teresa Hanika: Rotkäppchen muss weinen / Krik Rdeče kapice, translated from German by Tina Štrancar
– Kevin Brooks: The Bunker Diary / Dnevnik iz bunkerja, translated from English by Meta Osredkar

*European Union Prize for Literature winner in 2014.

The six titles in the programme could be described by the motto: ‘Growing up here, there and everywhere in EU’. The most important objective of the project is to provide Slovenian young readers with excellent translations of high quality European books, that would otherwise not be accessible to them. The selected books, some aimed at children and some at young adults, tell about growing up in different European countries, namely Sweden, Latvia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Germany and the UK. The six chosen titles cover the age range from 8 to 18 years. Their characters have convincing voices, and vivid descriptions enable young people to visualise how it is to live in another country. Most of the issues addressed by these stories are common to all of Europe, although they are reflected differently in every country. While selecting the books, we paid attention to the emotional effect of the stories on a young reader. Five of the stories appease the children’s hunger for hope and a bright tomorrow, while one (UK) reminds them that life is not always fair and that sometimes there is no happy ending. All of the stories, however, value the importance of closeness and relationships within family and society. All the chosen titles have won awards that prove their quality and have been recognized as some of the best youth literary works in their countries. Promotion and selling are two very demanding parts of the project. High literature from countries Slovene young readers do not know much about is unlikely to easily reach a wide audience. We are going to use all the possible tools, including the festival of children’s literature that we organise every year. (Source: EK)