This website aims to help you find world literature for children and young adults, focusing mainly on translations from around the world, and books in other languages that aren’t yet translated into English but deserve to be! We feature everything from picture books up to graphic novels and YA fiction. Listed below are links to resources and blog posts here at World Kid Lit, as well as external links to other websites and media.
We’ve listed countries and territories on this page using the United Nations geoscheme, pictured below. You’ll find the continents listed in alphabetical order: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania.
You can also search the World Kid Lit website for books by country or by language.
AFRICA
World Kid Lit blog
- African children’s books and YA ~ World Kid Lit book lists and maps
- Muna Kalati recommends …
- #ReadingAfrica Week 2021 overview
- #ReadingAfrica Week 2021 – Younger Reader Reviews (UN SDG Book Club Africa)
- #ReadingAfrica Week 2021 – African Kid Lit & Africa’s Many Languages
- Overcoming The Translation Challenges In African Language Publishing For Children
- UN SDG Book Club Books – Africa
- ‘Not Another Book Podcast’ on More Visibility for Books by Writers of African Origin
- Afro Young Adult Fiction Project– Water Birds on the Lakeshore
Recommended resources
- African Books Collective: Children and teens
- Accord Literary: literary agents Sarah Odedina and Deborah Ahenkorah Osei-Agyekum for authors based in Africa writing books for young readers
- Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA)
- CODE Burt Award for African Young Adult Literature
- Golden Baobab Prize
- Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI): #AfricanLiterature
- James Murua’s African Literature Blog
- Our Ancestories: stories on pre-colonial African legends and activities for kids to explore specific African cultures
- Van Aggelen – African Literary Agency
Northern Africa
Resources for books from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara
- ArabKidLitNow!
- Hadi Badi حادي بادي (community organization)
- Children’s and YA books in translation from Arabic (WKL blog post)
- Etisalat Award for Arabic children’s literature
- EBBY (Egyptian Board on Books for Young People)
- Geri Fai Omir: picture books to revive and teach Nubian languages (Sudan)
Western Africa
Resources for books from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo
- Magic from the Shores of West Africa
- Interview with Ana Cordeiro, coordinator of Cabo Verde´s National Reading Plan
- Children’s Literature that Translates us To and From Cabo Verde
- Translate This! KidLit from Cape Verde
- Ayò Oyeku recommends … (Nigeria)
- Nigerian Literature @ GLLI
Middle Africa
Resources for books from Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe
- Muna Kalati, Cameroon
- Equatorial Guinea at Global Literature in Libraries Initiative
Eastern Africa
Resources for books from British Indian Ocean Territory, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, French Southern Territories, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Réunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
- Siganas – African Luo Stories in Slovakia (Kenya/Slovakia)
- Kids Read … Somalia
- €1,000 Sarraounia Prize for Ugandan YA novel THE RAINMAKERS
- #ReadingAfrica: Ugandan Picture Books
Southern Africa
Resources for books from Botswana Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa
- Meet the Publisher: Dušanka Stojaković from New Africa Books (South Africa)
- Picture Books from South Africa
- Interview with South African Author and Translator Hannes Barnard
- South African Literature @ GLLI
Americas
- World Kid Lit Book List: Children’s Books in Translation from the Americas – Primary
- Tapioca Stories: a new children’s book publisher with Latin American soul
North America
- Reading the Indigenous North: Baby Raven Reads and Inhabit Media
- Indigenous North American Literature in Translation
- American Indians in Children’s Literature
Central America
Resources for books from Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama
- Cinco Puntos: publisher based on the U.S./Mexico border, specialist in publishing bilingual Spanish/English children’s books
- Guatemalan poetry collection Aquí era paraíso / Here was Paradise: interview with translator Hugh Hazelton
Caribbean
Resources for books from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin (French part), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and United States Virgin Islands
- Caribbean Literature at GLLI
- Caribbean Children’s Literature, Volume 1: History, Pedagogy, and Publishing
- Caribbean Books for Kids
- Central American Literature at GLLI
- Kids Read … Haiti
South America
Resources for books from Argentina, Bolivia, Bouvet Island, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela
- Argentina: Sigmar – children’s book publisher
- Argentinian Literature @ GLLI
- Brazilian Literature @ GLLI
- Kids Read … Argentina
- Exciting times for Bolivian children’s and youth literature
- Kids Read … Brazil
- Brazil: 5 Amazing Brazilian Children’s Authors, by Brynn in Brazil | BrazilianPublishers.com.br – the foreign rights catalogues of several Brazilian publishers
- Guaraní Children’s Books
- Chilean Literature at GLLI
- Kids Read … Chile
- Colombian Literature at GLLI
- Kids Read … Venezuela
Asia
- World Kid Lit Book List: Children’s Books in Translation from Asia – primary
- Wordless Asian Picture Books
- Stories That Stay With Us
Western Asia
Resources for books from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, State of Palestine, Syrian Arab Republic, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen
- Children’s and YA books in translation from Arabic
- Arab Kid Lit Now! A fresh view on contemporary Arabic children’s literature, in Arabic and in translation
- Etisalat Award for Arabic children’s literature
- The 6 Winners of the 2020 Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature
- Al-Salwa Books (Arabic)
- Hadi Badi: an initiative aiming to bridge the awareness gap about good Arabic children and young adult books.
- Kalimat: specialist Arabic children’s publisher, based in United Arab Emirates
- Arabic Literature at GLLI
- Tiny Owl Publishing: Global Children’s Literature; publisher of many illustrated picture books from Iran in English translation
- Farsi literary agencies: POL Literary and Translation Agency
- Turkish literary agencies: Black Cat Agency, Kovan Agency
Central Asia
Resources for books from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
- The Story of Babur ~ Including Author Interview (Kids Read the World)
- Children’s literature from Kazakhstan (The Alma Review)
- Uzbekistan: Stories set in Uzbekistan
Southern Asia
Resources for books from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka
- Dari and Pashto: Languages of Afghanistan
- Bengali children’s literature: Titas Bose recommends
- Bengali Children’s Literature: 20 Books Waiting to Be Explored
- Indian children’s literature festivals: Neev Literature Festival, Kukdukoo Lit Fest, Bookaroo Festival of Children’s Literature
- The Gita for Children, and children’s publishing in India
- Kids Read … Pakistan
Eastern Asia
Resources for books from China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, and Taiwan
- China IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People)
- Chinese books for young readers: Blog and Twitter account about children’s and YA books created in Chinese. Run by Helen Wang, Anguche and minjiech. Recommended translations from Chinese: Book List (also on Pinterest)
- Chinese Literature at GLLI
- Japan SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) (Recommended translations list)
- Japan Foundation’s ‘Worth Sharing’ list
- Books about Korea (Tuttle Publishing)
- Baek Heena named 2020 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) Laureate (South Korea)
- Children’s Lit in Translation from Korea, World Literature Today
- Literature Translation Institute of Korea (한국문학번역원, LTI Korea)
- Taiwan – Books from Taiwan
Southeastern Asia
Resources for books from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam
- Indonesia – ‘Islands of Imagination’ – Indonesia’s National Book Committee – Si Kancil
- Books about Indonesia and Balinese favorite children’s stories (Tuttle Publishing)
- Malaysian Board on Books for Young People (MBBY)
- Malaysian Children’s Books (Happy Go KL)
- Myanmar: Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
- Books about the Philippines (Tuttle Publishing)
- Vietnamese Children’s Books
Europe
- World Kid Lit Book List: Children’s Books in Translation from Central and Eastern Europe
- World Kid Lit Book List: Children’s Books in Translation from Scandinavia
Eastern Europe
Resources for books from Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, and Ukraine
- Bulgarian Literature @ GLLI
- Hungarian: Corvina Arts and Foreign Language Publishing Company
- Russian Kid Lit blog: reviews and excerpts of Russian-language books for children and teens
- Ukraine: Old Lion Publishing House (Stary Lev) ~ TAULT agency for Ukrainian literature in translation
- Ukrainian children’s books: recommendations for publishers
Northern Europe
Resources for books from Åland Islands, Channel Islands, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Sweden, United Kingdom (Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England)
- Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania): Publishers’ Weekly report on Children’s Book Publishing in Latvia
- Baltic Literature @ GLLI
- Danish Literature @ GLLI
- Estonian Literature @ GLLI
- Norwegian: NORLA children’s recommendations
- Finland: Playing by the Book blog’s feature on Finnish children’s books | Books from Finland blog
- Finland @ GLLI
- Sweden: Swedish children’s books | Swedish Institute for Children’s books
Southern Europe
Resources for books from Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Gibraltar, Greece, Holy See, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, and Spain
Western Europe
Resources for books from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, and Switzerland
- Dutch: Nederlands Letterenfonds (search: children’s)
- Dutch Literature @ GLLI
- Flanders Literature, Belgium
- French Literature @ GLLI
- German: New Books in German children’s/YA
- Switzerland: Translate Swiss Books (Pro Helvetia)
- Austrian Literature @ GLLI
Oceania
Australia and New Zealand
Resources for books from Australia, New Zealand
Micronesia
Resources for books from Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, and Palau
Melanesia
Resources for books from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu
Polynesia
Resources for books from Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu
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This is an ambitious project being carried out by volunteers, so please help if you can. You can suggest a website URL for these resources pages, or see the Get Involved! page for details of how to submit to World Kid Lit blog. Thank you!
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