As I wrote last week, at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair I wound up moderating half a dozen events, which I've been sharing here on the SCBWI Blog for those who couldn't attend the Buchmesse in person this year.
After Cornelia Funke's keynote conversation, we had a session featuring publishers, with Ken Wilson-Max, an author-editor from Zimbabwe now based in London, who was previously editor at Alanna-Max, an independent press devoted to children's books with diverse characters, and now runs Kumusha Books, the first imprint from HarperCollins UK to focus on publishing more inclusive books; Ani Rosa Almario, VP of Filipino publisher Adarna House; and Dominique Raccah, founder, publisher and CEO of Sourcebooks.
I had met both Ken and Ani before, but it was my first time meeting Dominique in person, so I got to fanboy a little from the stage, having watched Sourcebooks rise from outside the traditional channels of publishing and in their maverick way create space for so many books and voices, coming to be one of the largest publishers in the US and a serious rival to the Big Five. Just a few weeks before our discussion, Newsweek had found Sourcebooks to be one of America's Most Loved Workplaces, and Dominique was able to talk about hiring diversely and *supporting those people* (emphasis mine) as a key philosophy to their success.
I especially admire a brief interview Dominique gave to the Frankfurt Bookfair, which is full of concrete, actionable things publishing people can do to help promote Freedom of Expression, and I invited Domonique to share with the audience (who might not have read it before) a recap and to explore further those elements. I would urge everyone to click through and read that now before continuing:
https://www.buchmesse.de/en/news/dominique-raccah-freedom-expression-week
Ani spoke about creating space for Filipino voices, especially after the many years of both Spanish and English colonial rule, as well as some of the challenges of making sure Filipino culture reaches kids in the diaspora as well; Adarna House has a proprietary app, for instance, so kids can access books in the languages of the Philippines from anywhere in the world.
Ken talked about some of the challenges about publishing more inclusively from within corporate publishing. He spoke about some of the education he has wound up having to do in house, and the battles he sometimes faces to publish books by inclusive creators but not necessarily books about diversity (especially those aimed at educating a white audience) or being different. He ended by reminding the audience that there isn't a binary of corporate bad, independent good. The entire publishing world needs to be both intentional and proactive about publishing inclusive works and voices.
The next session was on Books Without Barriers: Accessibility in Publishing, with panelists Carolina Ballester, executive director of the International Board of Books for Young People (IBBY); Karine Pansa, the outgoing president of the International Publishers Association (IPA); and Åsa Bergman, head of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world's largest prize for children's and young adult literature, with a prize of five million Swedish kronor. [note from Lee: that's more than $450,000 USD]
Karine (who is also the publisher of Brazilian children's publisher Editora Girassol) spoke about the power of children's books to build critical thinking and empower people, but how "We're seeing just the opposite happening" referring to the attacks on freedom to publish, with book bans in countries like the United States, Turkey, Hungary, and others.
Åsa talked about how the award, while not explicitly so, tends to implicitly support writers and organizations that help children access great stories and books. She talked about this year's current winner, the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, to recognize and support the work of this community-led organization to provide culturally relevant books and literacy resources for Australia's Indigenous Communities. And last year's winner, Laurie Halse Anderson, whose books have come under attack for giving necessary voice to subjects such as rape, and who donated $100,000 of her award money to fight book bans in the USA.
Carolina talked about some of the work IBBY is doing to help ensure books reach all readers, including their biannual Outstanding Books for Children with Disabilities list, and their Reading Promoter Award, among others. She also talked about how IBBY works together with the United Nations and other partners on the SDG Book Clubs.
Karine also talked about how, in Brazil, since 2023 the law stipulates that every book must be made available in an accessible format, within 30 days of request from a user. She emphasized that this was achieved after years of conversation between associations, both in Brazil and internationally, whose data and market statistics helped convince lawmakers of the need for this legislation.
For the final session, we once again heard from various voices in the publishing industry, although not only editors, discussing "Responsibility in children's book publishing": Paolo Canton is the co-publisher of Topipittori, the Italian children's book publisher devoted to children's books that he co-founded with Giovanna Zoboli in 2004 and which today has a catalog of some 250 titles; Daniela Filthaut is the general manager of Gerstenberg Verlag in Germany, having previously been program director at children's book imprints Sauerländer, Patmos, kbv Luzern, aare, Dachs at Patmos Verlagshaus, and Coppenrath Buchverlage. Ivan Fedechko is the rights sales manager for Starylev/Old Lion Publishing House in Ukraine, which won the Bologna Prize for Best Children's Publishers of the Year in 2023.
Both Paola and Daniela talked about intentionality in creating a divers and inclusive publishing program, and not just waiting or relying on what gets submitted to them, by creators or agents or other publishers.
Paolo talked about how, in a year when Italy was the Guest Country at the bookfair, rather than being an Italian publisher of picture books, he is a publisher of picture books, originating in Italian, but with contributors that often come from around the world, for both texts and art. For him, it is the book which is in charge, and has its own strength and power.
Ivan talked about the responsibility of promoting Ukrainian culture around the world, especially at a time when Ukraine is seen only as a victim due to the ongoing Russian invasion. While their books about the war are perhaps easier sales abroad for translation, it is important for their culture to also be translated and published, just as they continue to operate (attacks and power outages permitting) in order to have a life to resume after the invasion is over.
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| Just like these photos, the Frankfurt Kids Conference was stacked with great panel discussions! (Photos courtesy of Riky Stock) |
If this summary seems somewhat breathless and hurried (I'm already over word-length, but trying to cover as much as possible) that's how moderating so many sessions back-to-back did feel. I will conclude by saying how sweet it was that the organizers of the Frankfurt Kids Conference wished me a happy birthday in the introductory and closing remarks, and gave me some gluten-free, dairy-free, chocolate-free (I'm allergic, alas!) sweets.
And what better way to celebrate my birthday than sharing time and space with so many book lovers, both speakers and audience, trying to make a better world for readers and offer more diverse and inclusive stories for them.
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| Lawrence Schimel |
Lawrence Schimel is a multilingual author and literary translator, working primarily in and between Spanish and English. He has published over 130 books as an author, and has translated over 190 books. He has won a Crystal Kite twice, for his picture books Lucky Me, illustrated by Juan Camilo Mayorga (Orca) and Read a Book With Me, illustrated by Thiago Lopes (US: Beaming Books, Singapore: Epigram). His most recent children's book is HaiCuba/HaiKuba: Haikus about Cuba in Spanish and English, co-authored with Carlos Pintado, illustrated by Juan José Colsa (NorthSouth Books) which won a Eureka Honor from the California Reading Association and was chosen by the NYPL as a Best Books for Kids 2024.
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