by Clare Gaunt
This year I was really lucky. I got to visit Colombia. And our trip coincided with the Bogotá International Book Fair (FILBo). Which gave me the opportunity to meet some incredible, and incredibly dedicated publishers (Babel Libros, Cataplum Libros, Ediciones SM) and to get a feel for some of the amazing Colombian Kid Lit authors to watch.
Afterward, Everything Was Different
Written by: Jairo Buitrago
Illustrated by: Rafael Yockteng
Translated by: Elisa Amado
Translated from SPANISH [Colombia]
Published by: Greystone Books (Originally published in Spanish by Babel Libros)
The name that really was everywhere was Kirkus Prize nominee Jairo Buitrago. He has written around 20 picture books that have been translated into about half as many languages. One of his latest books Afterward, Everything Was Different, was published in English by Greystone Kids this year (2023) and really captured my attention.
For a start, there’s the stark gap between the English and the original title ¡Ugh! Try ignoring that when you’re wandering around endless arrays of books with a 9-year-old. Now, have a go at guessing what the subject is from the crossover between the Spanish and English titles…
What if I tell you that the book is set in the Ice Age, when the Homo genus emerged in Africa and the first modern humans spread all over the world? Then if I tell you that the first name credited is actually Illustrator Rafael Yockteng, and that almost all of the book is in pictures, with the text coming only at the end, after everything really was different… This book tells the story of the invention of storytelling, and it does it with such immersive, awe-inspiring illustrations that it’s impossible to ignore. The Spanish and English titles each come down on a different side of history. Pretty interesting.
You also need to know that translator Elisa Amado has done a wonderful job. Jairo Buitrago’s picture books are very sparsely written. Spanish almost always lends itself more easily to this style than English. (Obviously I’m not saying either language is confined to those choices, think Garcia Marquez and T.S. Eliot). But Ms Amado captures the poetry of a brevity that allows the particular to be resoundingly universaI. In some ways, this is the essence of childhood. And it results in the antithesis of a non-fiction book. We don’t learn about pre-history here. We are part of it. And that helps us absorb the immensity of this discovery and relish how it changed our world.
Written by: Paula Ríos
Illustrated by: Omar Castro
Original language: SPANISH [Colombia]
Published by: Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial S.A.S.
Paula Ríos’ first picture book El Cuac Está de Moda was published through the B de Block imprint by Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial (Colombia). This author is moonlighting from her more established career as lead vocalist of kids music band Tu Rockcito. (They won the 2021 Latin Grammy for Best Latin Children’s Album). Currently only available in Spanish, it comes with a QR code that redirects you to an accompanying soundtrack. In this tale, Duck decides that everyone should speak Quack (her language), and because this is a fashionable choice, she soon has Frog, Guinea Pig, Owl, and even a cat joining in… but when the cat jumps on the unsuspecting crew, they revert to their own languages and join forces to chase it away. It’s a fun rhyming fable about the importance of speaking your own language, and of how that’s something everyone has in common. This is especially true in a country as diverse as Colombia, which is home to around 70 languages.
Written by: Triunfo Arciniegas
Illustrated by: Dipacho
Original language: SPANISH [Colombia]
Published by: Grupo Editorial SM Colombia
Triunfo Arciniegas is not a newcomer. He’s a pillar of the Colombian Kid Lit establishment, and counts running a children’s theatre among his many educational hats. He was included in the IBBY List of Honour for Letras Robadas (Stolen Letters) in 2016 and nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen award in 2018. Few of his picture books are available in English, which is a situation I’m trying to remedy for El Niño Gato / CatBoy.
CatBoy’s father went off to war before he was born and never came back, leaving his mother lost in nostalgia. So CatBoy grew up on his own, surrounded by nature, hiding at the back of the classroom, finding comfort in the friendship of some book-loving mice.
Again, this is a tale that says a lot in a few words. It is accompanied by fantastically bold illustrations by Bologna award-winning Illustrator Dipacho which help you see things from the main character’s perspective. Arciniegas uses the magic of our collective imagination to make the experience of loneliness, of feeling lost, incredibly real.
I love how this story gives the reader the time to witness his journey from a wild boy growing up alone in nature, and lonely in the classroom, to the boy who knows how to show CatGirl all the secret wonders of his world, a place in which we all belong. Because our boy is a cat, he represents anyone with a conflicted sense of belonging. And because CatBoy is such an archetypal figure, the opening to acceptance through the appearance of CatGirl works in a superhero kind of way.
You can enjoy my English translation of this wonderful book on the Translators Aloud YouTube channel. Another great place to find World Kid (and grown-up) Lit.
Meet Clare Gaunt:
Clare Gaunt is a published children’s book translator, thanks to Majestic Mountains and Majestic Oceans, both available from Welbeck. She works from Spanish and French into English. She lives in a small village on the Canal du Midi in the South of France where she has grown her first courgette and nearly killed a pomegranate tree. Home is with her 9-year-old daughter, her Spanish/Colombian partner, and a cat. She is a kindred spirit of all travellers. Clare wanted to be an artist and a doctor when she was little, which probably explains why she’s now a storyteller on behalf of picture books with soul. She can’t wait to go back to Colombia, which is like a thousand countries in one.
You can follow her adventures on Twitter/X at @studiogaunt
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