Outside In World | Exploring World Books | Childrens Books

Journeys into Reading

Outside in World (OIW) at the annual YLG Conference in Eastbourne

September 2025

Outside In World (OIW) participated in the annual Youth Library Group (YLG) Conference at Eastbourne on Saturday, 6th September 2025, which took place at the magnificent Grand Hotel.

The subject of this year’s conference was ‘Journeys into Reading’. We all received a warm welcome from YLG Chair Jenny Hawke and Stephen Mitchell from Askews and Holts, the conference sponsor. The main keynote speaker of the conference, author Kate Mosse, gave a poignant speech related to her latest YA book, Feminist History for Every Day of the Year.

YLG Conference 2025 - Edgardo Zaghini

OIW’s workshop, led by Edgardo Zaghini, one of its co-founders, with the main participants being school and public librarians. The session began with a brief introduction to the work of OIW and the book collection held at the University of Portsmouth (UoP) Library.

The workshop was divided into two parts. The first part consisted of a Q&A session, which was intended to generate a conversation about the subject of children’s literature in translation.

YLG Conference 2025

Examples of questions that were asked:

Would you have a separate ‘book in translation’ section in your library, or would you integrate the books with the general stock? Can you think of some pros and cons of such an arrangement?

Do you believe it’s important to promote American, Australian, New Zealand and children’s books from other English-speaking countries? Would you keep the original version or change some words, phrases or expressions to facilitate the understanding of local audiences?

Some themes that are acceptable in one culture might be considered inappropriate in another. For example, a story that includes themes of independence and questioning authority might be reworded in societies where respect for elders is emphasised. Can you think of other cases when navigating censorship and ideological adjustments might be necessary?

The second part of the workshop focused on a selection of books, mainly picture books, which were on display; the majority of these featured on the OIW website. Delegates were then divided into groups and asked to choose one book and to examine the following elements:

Identifying Language and Text

What is the original language/ country? Do you recognise words/phrases that would indicate their original language?

Exploring Translation Concepts

Do you think it is important to keep unknown words/phrases (like the names of foods) in the original or should they be adapted to the English equivalent?
What challenges, if any, do you think the translator would have encountered when translating this story?

Focus on Cultural Aspects

Are there any words or phrases in this story that you don’t understand?
How do you feel people from different cultures might feel when reading this story?

Encouraging Creative Thinking

Would you change something about this story or the ending?

YLG Conference 2025

The groups chose the following books:

The Pebble by Marius Marcinkevicius (Lithuania)
This is a Dictatorship by Equipo Plantel (Spain)
The Marvellous Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty by Beatrice Alemagna (France)
My Baby Sister is a Diplodocus by Aurore Petit (France)
Maia and What Matters by Tine Mortier (Belgium)

And two other titles that are not translations

My Strange Shrinking Parents by Zeno Sworder (Australia)
The Small Blue Dot by Zeno Sworder (Australia)

Each group had the opportunity to discuss the book of their choice and explore them.

These are just a few of the interesting comments to emerge from the session.

Being concerned that the translator's name was not mentioned in The Marvellous Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty, which just said ‘translated from the French’
They welcomed the fact that there was a translated title from Lithuania.
It was suggested that the picture of the dead father at the end of Maia and What Matters could have been changed because it was too strong an image for young children
This is a Dictatorship could also do with a new edition incorporating new dictators that have emerged in recent years, and the possibility of having this title as a discussion point in the classroom.

The entire session was highly successful, providing all participants with valuable insights and motivation to select more children's books in translation for their respective libraries.

Edgardo Zaghini

6th September 2025

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