Bookworm Literary Festival: Tove Appelgren
Our final children's program at the Bookworm Literary Festival was with Suécophone Finnish author Tove Appelgren. (Yes, I googled what the word for a Swedish-speaking person, and Suécophone is what I got).
She is of the ethnic minority of Swedes living in Finland. In Scandinavia, her best known books are a series about a little girl named Vesta-Linnea. These have been translated from the Swedish into many languages, including English.
It was a very small group for Appelgren's talk, so we gathered close to hear her read.
More after the jump.
While the Vesta-Linnea books have been translated into English, it was through a rather different route than I have seen before. She had a contract with an Indian publisher, and they produced a Hindi version and an English version. When her books are in translation, Appelgren's main request is that Vesta-Linnea's name remains a close to her intent for what she selected, an very large, old-fashioned name. In many countries, the translated name was close in intention and sound. In India, though, the publisher went with Anokhi, and used this name in both the English and Hindi.
In the Indian versions, too, some details were changed where the context would be lost on Indian children. For instance, in one book Vesta-Linnea was having nightmares about an old well at her family's summer house. Summer house ownership in Sweden is not a sign of wealth, necessarily, and these houses are often cottages with few modern amenities (hence the presence of a well). However, to an Indian child, even middle class, this whole idea would be completely incomprehensible so the location of the well was changed to a "far-off, barren place." It fit with the illustration and didn't substantially change the story. Because of that, Appelgren's husband prepared her their own English copy of a Vesta-Linnea book for use at the Bookworm and other English-language events.
While she read, she pointed out some features of Salla Savolaines's illustrations that help with understanding both the book and the larger story of Vesta-Linnea and her family. In Vesta-Linnéa och Monstermamman, in English, Vesta-Linnea and the Monstermother, the little girl's mother was having a very bad day. While in Appelgren's text, some reasons were revealed, the pictures showed so much more. There was no mention of the baby sibling, and yet there she was, crawling all over the place in the illustrations.
I asked if her inspiration for Vesta-Linnea came from one of her own seven children. She said, yes, one of her daughters is an introvert, and she, being an extrovert, had some hard lessons to learn about parenting a child so opposite.
Myles was fine with hearing the Vesta-Linnea stories, but he was really intrigued by another book she brought with her, DJUR.
With pictures by the Icelandic comic strip artist Halldór Baldursson, it is a book meant for not-young readers. In the US, we do not have such beautifully illustrated books for older kids, unless you count graphic novels, but DJUR is not a graphic novel. We often consider illustrated stories as only belonging in the children's shelves, or, at best, a novelty (like Griffin and Sabine).
Afterwards, she signed our books.
She is of the ethnic minority of Swedes living in Finland. In Scandinavia, her best known books are a series about a little girl named Vesta-Linnea. These have been translated from the Swedish into many languages, including English.
It was a very small group for Appelgren's talk, so we gathered close to hear her read.
More after the jump.
While the Vesta-Linnea books have been translated into English, it was through a rather different route than I have seen before. She had a contract with an Indian publisher, and they produced a Hindi version and an English version. When her books are in translation, Appelgren's main request is that Vesta-Linnea's name remains a close to her intent for what she selected, an very large, old-fashioned name. In many countries, the translated name was close in intention and sound. In India, though, the publisher went with Anokhi, and used this name in both the English and Hindi.
In the Indian versions, too, some details were changed where the context would be lost on Indian children. For instance, in one book Vesta-Linnea was having nightmares about an old well at her family's summer house. Summer house ownership in Sweden is not a sign of wealth, necessarily, and these houses are often cottages with few modern amenities (hence the presence of a well). However, to an Indian child, even middle class, this whole idea would be completely incomprehensible so the location of the well was changed to a "far-off, barren place." It fit with the illustration and didn't substantially change the story. Because of that, Appelgren's husband prepared her their own English copy of a Vesta-Linnea book for use at the Bookworm and other English-language events.
While she read, she pointed out some features of Salla Savolaines's illustrations that help with understanding both the book and the larger story of Vesta-Linnea and her family. In Vesta-Linnéa och Monstermamman, in English, Vesta-Linnea and the Monstermother, the little girl's mother was having a very bad day. While in Appelgren's text, some reasons were revealed, the pictures showed so much more. There was no mention of the baby sibling, and yet there she was, crawling all over the place in the illustrations.
I asked if her inspiration for Vesta-Linnea came from one of her own seven children. She said, yes, one of her daughters is an introvert, and she, being an extrovert, had some hard lessons to learn about parenting a child so opposite.
Myles was fine with hearing the Vesta-Linnea stories, but he was really intrigued by another book she brought with her, DJUR.
With pictures by the Icelandic comic strip artist Halldór Baldursson, it is a book meant for not-young readers. In the US, we do not have such beautifully illustrated books for older kids, unless you count graphic novels, but DJUR is not a graphic novel. We often consider illustrated stories as only belonging in the children's shelves, or, at best, a novelty (like Griffin and Sabine).
Afterwards, she signed our books.
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