Gecko Press – Julia Marshall
Rosalba Hojer talks to the publisher and translator Julia Marshall
“Stories on the move – Making translation in children’s literature visible” is the objective of this year’s Action Lab Project by Outside in World and the Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing. As an intern searching for material to benefit the project, I have interviewed ten different translators and publishers whose answers will offer you a peek behind the scenes of translated children’s books. In our interview, Julia Marshall evokes the beauty and infinite possibilities of storytelling in translated children’s literature, reminding us why we desperately need different voices to tell their stories to us.
As a children’s book publishing house, why is it so important to you to publish so many translated children’s books?
Gecko Press is a small-by-choice publisher of children’s books in translation, based in Wellington, New Zealand. We publish around 18 new titles each year, for sale throughout the world – so not so many books!
At Gecko Press we hand-pick, translate and publish curiously good books by some of the best writers and illustrators in the world—books of good heart and strong character, excellent in the story, illustration and design. We choose stories that look at the world from a different perspective, with real characters, depth, humour, emotion, honesty, intelligence, books parents and children will enjoy reading over and over.
I think it is very important to introduce English-speaking children to books originally in languages other than English. When Gecko Press began in 2005, only 1% of books published in the UK came from another language and that number is certainly higher now.
In the current Anglo-Saxon book market, there is still, to my mind, much that is the same. We would rather say we are looking for un-sameness, the adventure of the unknown.
But to answer your question, there is the bigger question of why we read. For me, it is to find out about how others think and feel, to put ourselves in different situations and to practice what it is like being in someone else’s shoes, whether that be a child, a rabbit, a wolf or a worm – as well as for entertainment. We read to recognize ourselves, and also to understand lives different to ours.
In our current political times, we have much to learn about each other’s cultures.
In some countries, it can be a political act to forbid the translation of writers’ work.
There is a long way to go before every child has access to books that reflect their own lives and experiences, however. The books from Gecko Press are a drop in a very big bucket.
What challenges does it involve to publish this many translations and why is it worth going the extra mile to do so?
I personally love translation and the idea that a good book can reach children everywhere. Publishing books in translation is our bread and butter, not an add-on, so any mile is worth the effort. It is a challenge sometimes to introduce books by authors who are not known locally and there is also the global movement currently to buy local, and we are not and nor are our books. People sometimes have the idea that something translated is a lesser thing. We like to think of things found in translation, not lost. A good translation is the key. People do sometimes prefer things that are comfortable, known, and by people whose names they can pronounce easily – I think that is changing, however.
Have there been any books which you thought were quite niche but performed surprisingly well once published?
We are constantly surprised by which books do well and which ones don’t. It is not at all predictable. Duck, Death and the Tulip by Wolf Erlbruch is one of our best-selling books, and that was a surprise as there was a lot of controversy about it when we first published it, about whether it was suitable for children. Some very good books have performed more slowly than expected and some that we thought would be difficult have been extraordinarily successful. That is the nature of publishing, perhaps. There are no rules.
What is your approach to translated picture books, do you aim to stay as close as possible to the original version or do you care more about how the book will be perceived by the target audience?
With a picture book – with any book, but in particular, a picture book - we are looking to capture the spirit of the original. The book must be true to the spirit of the original, and it must reach the heart of the target audience, otherwise, it is not doing its job.
Not every book is translatable, and some books travel better than others. There are always challenges. The translator sets the tone of the work. Picture books can be the equivalent of poems. If there are puns in the original, there must be puns in the translation; if there is humour in the original, it must be in the translation.
The job of the editor is very important, too. The book itself should be by default very good because the original publisher has done all the thinking about character development and plot, or any of the normal structural problems an editor can face. Instead, in a translated book, the editor needs to concentrate on voice and tone and fluidity; and make sure the humour works and that there are no barriers between the work and the reader. At Gecko Press, we edit twice: once for voice and then once for Americanness, as it is important to not to lose readers on either side of the Atlantic. I have learned that compromise is not always a bad thing.
We read everything aloud, from the page, and send the book back to the original publisher who often checks it with the author. Then we read it again. If we can, it is great to hear the book read aloud in the original, to give us a sense of how it sounds in its original language.
I’m not sure if this answers the question – it is always a balance, and different for picture books compared to novels, and from book to book. In our translated books, we try to retain some of the essence of the original language and keep the names of characters the same unless the author is trying to say something about a character through the name. We chose Cricket Karlsson, for example, in The Secrets of Cricket Karlsson, rather than Humlan Hannson (Humlan Hanssons Hemligheter). The author came up with the name of Cricket, to match the idea of Humlan, a bumblebee, and we enjoyed the alliteration of Cricket and Karlsson and Secrets, without being heavy-handed, we felt.
The Secrets of Cricket Karlsson
Why is it so important to have translated literature, but especially translated children’s books?
I think having books available to read in translation opens the world up, and makes it a bigger place, and at the same time, we see that humanity is the same wherever we are.
Is it necessary/important to have the translator’s name on the book cover as well as the author’s and illustrator’s names?
Good question! As a translator from Swedish, I don’t believe my name should be on the front cover, as the book is the work of the author and the illustrator and I see my role as – a translator. I am quite happy to be on the inside. I know there are strong views about this though, and at Gecko Press we are open. Certainly, we put the translator’s name prominently on the title page. I think it is different from book to book, myself. But as I say, I am aware that many translators think differently in this matter.
September 2022
The interview was conducted via email by Rosalba Hojer, a German Erasmus+ scholar studying French in the UK and intern working for Dr Sophie Heywood from the University of Reading.
Julia Marshall is the publisher of Gecko Press as well as a translator from Swedish to English.
Gecko Press publishes a wide range of children’s books from all over the world by a variety of translators such as Daniel Hahn, Helen Wang, David Colmer and many more. A plethora of Gecko Press titles can be found in the OIW collection in Portsmouth, some personal favourites of mine are Encyclopaedia of Grannies written by Éric Veillé and translated by Daniel Hahn and The day no one was angry written by Toon Tellegen and translated by Bill Nagelkerke.
