Outside In World | Exploring World Books | Childrens Books

Portsmouth Bookfest Zine Making Workshop

Portsmouth Bookfest Zine Making workshop, inspired by the Outside in World collection on 22 February. The University of Portsmouth Library has a complementary display of Zine's from the Illustration Department's Zineopolis Collection in the library, including the creative endeavours from the workshop.

The Invisible Story Exhibition

Check out The Invisible Story display in the University of Portsmouth Library. Discover how El Cuento Fantasma (The Ghost Story) was selected as part of Outside in World’s Reading the Way project, and how it came to be translated by Daniel Hahn for Lantana as The Invisible Story

Global Storytelling at Portsmouth University Library

The University of Portsmouth held a successful Global Week event - Global Storytelling using the Outside In World Collection. You can read the blog posts here:

Before the event:
After the event:

Family fun with
the University Library

During October the Global team at Portsmouth University ran a Family fun with the University Library event using some of the Outside In World Collection of Children’s Books in Translation.

Discover the UK’S Largest Collection of Translated Children's Literature From Around the World

A promotional video has been produced by Outside in World (OIW) to showcase its unique collection of 1,600 titles translated from many world languages into English – the largest of its kind in the UK. Educationalists, students, publishers, researchers as well as the local Portsmouth community are encouraged to visit the NFWB@UoP in Portsmouth to access, enjoy and learn from the collection.

Featured in the video are:

-   Edgardo Zaghini, a Chartered Librarian based at Bromley Libraries and Co-founder of OIW. Ed talks about the history and purpose of OIW and what can be found within the collection. As well as books translated from French and German, the collection features books translated from Afrikaans, Arabic, Basque, Estonian, Farsi, Indonesian, Korean, Latvian, and Thai among other languages.

-   Rosalber Hojer, intern for OIW and the Centre of Book Cultures and Publishing at the University of Reading takes a tour of the OIW Collection at the University of Portsmouth Library.

-   Greta Friggens, Faculty Librarian, Creative and Cultural Industries, University of Portsmouth Library. “Portsmouth is a city that has a history of welcoming and assisting migrants. Our community-focused university is easily accessible by road and rail. The OIW collection sits within a growing collection of bilingual and translated children’s books. We actively encourage people to visit to inform research, teaching and community outreach work. The library is open to everyone for most of the year. If you’re not a member of the University but would like to view the collection, see the Library web pages on our website. You can visit just for the day or if you want to visit more regularly, you can apply for external membership. Membership is Free. Items in the collection are included on the Library Catalogue and most are available for loan.”

-   Jenny Hawke, Edgardo’s colleague on the children’s team at Bromley Libraries also sits on the committee of the Youth Libraries Group. Jenny says: “It’s vitally important for translated children’s literature to be available in public libraries. They really do widen the reading experience for children and young people, especially as we live in a multi-cultural society. I would love to see more translated children’s books in libraries and I’d like to ask publishers to make more titles of children’s translated books available.”

Jenny always tries to incorporate a children’s translated book into reading groups, school visits and story times, whether they are virtual or physical. She recently read Elephant Island published by Gecko Press in 2022 and written by Leo Timmers. It was translated by James Brown from the Dutch language.

-   Emma Page, a PhD researcher at the University of Reading studying the OIW collection. Emma says: “OIW constitutes a fascinating resource for researchers from a wide variety of fields. Whether you are studying education, childhood, children’s literature, social sciences or any kind of translation-related projects, I highly encourage you to check out the collection in Portsmouth as well as the OIW website and consider how you might be inspired for future projects.”

The video link is available here

May 2023

Cottage Grove Primary School Diversity Day, 26th May 2023

Read the blog post of how our books are being used at the University of Portsmouth Library - a day at a local primary school using books from the OIW collection.

Havant College students are inspired by our OIW Book Collection

Read the UoP Library blog to find out how Havant College students were inspired by the Outside In World Collection of Children's Books in Translation.

Portsmouth hosts a new collection of books in translation

The University of Portsmouth announce the hosting of the Outside In World Collection of Children's Books in Translation.

OIW Collection of Children's Books in Translation in its new home at the University of Portsmouth's Library

Outside in World's unique Collection of Children's Books in Translation has been gifted to the University of Portsmouth. The 1,600 titles translated from many world languages into English will be available to the public for the very first time. The Collection includes translated books dating from the early 1990s to the present and will continue to grow with new additions each year.

The OIW Collection is now available to students, academics and researchers, and, importantly, to diverse local communities through the university’s extensive outreach programme.

Greta Friggens, Faculty Librarian, Creative and Cultural Industries comments: “It is a delight to see the OIW books brightening the cafe space in the University of Portsmouth Library.”

Welcome to Outside In World, the organisation dedicated to promoting and exploring world literature and children's books in translation.