Silenced Voices from Abroad: A Report from the Field

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Final 590 Paper - Loretta Gaffney / by Marianne Martens / August 2nd, 2005

Writing recently in the The New York Times about the remake of the 1970s film “The Bad News Bears,”Manohla Dargis wrote:

“…the cultural climate has become paradoxically more vulgar and more censorious in the decades since the first film opened.”

In her book “Against Borders,” Hazel Rochman writes: “The best books break down borders. They surprise us—whether they are set close to home or abroad. They change our view of ourselves; they extend that phrase “like me” to include what we thought was foreign and strange.” (Rochman, 2001, pg. 9), and yet, for a variety of reasons, international books are generally dismissed at the U.S. border. Considering the world's political climate, it seems a little cultural sharing and understanding could go a long way. Jella Lepman, founder of the International Youth Library in post-World War II Munich, Germany, was a huge believer in the benefits of building bridges between cultures using children’s books, and of using children’s books as a vehicle for promoting peace (Lepman, 2001). Many editors agree with Lepman, but get caught up in the various challenges involved. In this paper, I’ll explore why these books continue to be ignored, and how some publishers and editors are finding creative ways of circumnavigating the system.

America is considered the global melting pot, yet according to Susan Stan, Associate Professor of English at Central Michigan University, President of USBBY, and editor of  “The World Through Children’s Books,” only about 5% of books published annually in the US come from other countries, and of those, only about 1-2 % are translations. The others are already in English, and come from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. (Stan, 2002, page 14). Although American publishers happily export a huge percentage of their lists to other countries each year, American editors are extremely timid when it comes to importing foreign books. There are several reasons for this timidity, some of which are understandable from a financial, business point-of-view. I spoke with a few publishing colleagues about some of the challenges involved in bringing international books to the United States.

Bardon Chinese Media is a co-agency that I work with at North-South Books. Bardon places Chinese language rights to our books with publishers in Taiwan and China. Although typical advances are small (between $1,500-$2,000 USD, against royalties of 6%, which we split with the author and illustrator), American authors and illustrators are usually thrilled to know that their books will be published in Chinese.

I asked Jian-Mei Wang, President of Bardon, if she sells many Chinese books in the United States. Although she thinks it’s far easier to place picture books than novels, she thinks it's difficult overall to place Chinese books in the US. A few children’s publishers in Taiwan, like Heyin and Hsinex, try very aggressively to place their books with American publishers, and Hsinex’s “Guji Guji” by Chih-Yuan Chen is one success story. It has even been on the New York Times Bestseller List for children’s books.

As for the market of children's books from China (compared to Taiwan) is concerned, Jian-Mei wrote: “The market for picture books in China is not ready yet, so nothing is good enough to be introduced to the foreign markets yet.” Although Jian-Mei was excited about efforts by companies like Hsinex and Heyin in placing Taiwanese books in the US market, she was skeptical about future successes: “I’d not expect it to be many,” she wrote.

My closest experience of evaluating a wide range of international works from an editorial perspective was from serving on the Andersen Jury. In 2002, the Chinese candidate was Qin Wenjun and in 2004, Cao Wenxuan. With the exception of a few poorly translated chapters in English, the material for both authors arrived in Chinese. At the time, I worked with a woman from Beijing, who helped me review these books. Although my colleague said that the authors were both highly celebrated at home, and despite the fact that she prepared detailed reports for me on both authors, I found the books very difficult to evaluate, simply because I couldn't properly read them. What I could read, felt more like adult fiction than children's fiction, and I couldn't tell if this was simply because of the translation, or if it truly represented the content of the original versions. From an editorial perspective, I agree it would be challenging to acquire works like these for publication in the US. Other developing nations have similar problems with their submissions. While the material from China was presented beautifully, other developing countries do not have the money to produce quality books. When you look at some of the books from Brazil, or from the Philippines, you have to forget everything you know about quality hardcover picture books published in the West, and try to look at the books in terms of content and the cultures they come from. Jeffrey Garrett, 2004 Andersen Jury President, and librarian at North-Western, compiled a bibliography of books reviewed for the 2004 Andersen Medal, which gives an idea of the range of material we looked at.

But certain key titles do help crack open the door for other books from the same markets. “Guji Guji” has certainly helped Chinese authors and illustrators. Manga and Anime from Japan has increased interest in all things Japanese. And works by Cornelia Funke, Germany's super-star, have flung open the door for German authors in the United States, with the American successes of books like "Dragon Rider," "Inkheart," and "The Thief Lord."

Even before Cornelia Funke's American success, Germany has aggressively marketed its books for years via the German Book Office, located in the Goethe-Haus, across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Riky Stock is the head of the German Book Office, and in addition to maintaining a website featuring titles available from Germany, and a list of German-language readers and translators, the German Book Office also organizes an annual trip for five American editors to go to Germany to meet local editors. In April 2005, the American editors met with representatives from thirteen German, Swiss, and Austrian children's book publishing houses (including Oetinger, Carlsen, Rowohlt, Esslinger, Thienemann, Hanser, and Bertelsmann) in Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Munich.

According to Riky Stock, “Cornelia Funke is great for us. She definitely is a door opener. There are American editors who contact us now because they hope to discover something similar. We can get editors interested in German books by using these two words: ‘Cornelia Funke.’ We have a great success story to tell when Americans say "translations don't sell."

Stock says that although the US market is the foreign market most sought after by German authors, editors, and rights directors, it’s also the one most difficult to enter. “The U.S. has such a strong influence in Germany that no one understands that it doesn't work the other way around. In publishing, doing business is a one-way-street.” And for German authors, getting an American publisher is considered the only chance of getting a movie deal. It’s a complicated situation, because American editors demand an English translation, but German publishers are hesitant to pay for a high quality translation, because with or without a translation, the chance of actually getting a deal with an American publisher is considered slim at best. In response to my question of whether it’s worth it for German publishers to even pursue American deals, Riky Stock said: “No, it's not at all a worthwhile business. That's why the GBO supports German publishers in creating awareness for German books.”

In order to avoid the complicated business of selling rights to individual titles, several adventurous foreign publishers have attempted co-publishing arrangements with American publishers. The company I work for, North-South Books, was one of the pioneers in the field. North-South Books is a Swiss publishing company, founded in 1961 by an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia, Dimitrije Sidjanski and his Swiss wife Brigitte. Rather than sell foreign rights to their books one-by-one, they came up with an innovative idea – they’d open offices in different countries, and co-publish their own international editions. Like Jella Lepman, they wanted to build bridges between cultures, and for years, the logo of the company was a picture of an Inuit child eating a banana, which they felt illustrated the borderless cultural sharing that they wanted to create with their picture books. In addition to publishing books in its primary language of German, at various times in the company’s history, North-South has had its own publishing subsidiaries simultaneously publishing in Japanese, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish, English, and Dutch.

If you can find a willing partner, co-publishing is certainly one way to sidestep the U.S. acquisition process. In terms of printing, there are cost savings as well. It costs much less to run-on a quantity of books in another language, than it does to acquire, translate and then print alone, but co-publishing works best with picture books. They are quick to read and evaluate. Any potential problems in the artwork are immediately visible—what-you-see-is-what-you-get. With novels, there are many more steps involved, including a costlier translation and editorial process.

Taiwan’s Grimm Press is trying a similar approach. They’ve opened a tiny U.S. subsidiary called Purple Bear Books. Ironically, classmate Minjie Chen wrote on the 590 Class Bulletin Board that “Chinese publishers never seem to get tired of printing Andersen’s and Grimm Brothers’ books, knowing that these are all that most parents know about children’s books.” Grimm Press is the embodiment of Minjie’s sentiment, even naming their company after the Brothers Grimm.

Marc Cheshire, former publisher of North-South Books in New York, and owner of the packaging and consulting firm Cheshire Studio, is working with Purple Bear Books, coordinating the translation, editing, and design of the books. Publishers Group West, a distributor, will handle marketing, publicity and sales of the titles.

K.T. Hao is the Taiwanese publisher of Grimm Press, and also one of its authors. Of course, as you’d expect with the name of the company, Grimm Press is famous for publishing a large number of traditional European folk tales and fairy tales. They also use many European illustrators (including some, like Giuliano Ferri whom we’ve published at North-South Books). The books they chose to export to the U.S. on their first American list, included titles like “Pinocchio,” illustrated by the acclaimed Australian illustrator Robert Ingpen, but also an original Asian title called Little Stone Buddha, written by K.T. Hao, and illustrated by Giuliano Ferri.

Cheshire also consults Grimm Press on which books they should export to the U.S. There are several books by Taiwanese writers and illustrators on the list—some more interesting to the U.S. market than others. Although there are many interesting books on Grimm’s backlist about Chinese fables, myths and legends, Cheshire wants to avoid stories where readers need to have a deeper understanding of Chinese history and culture inorder to appreciate them. One story that Cheshire feels would work in the United States, is “Auntie Tigress” by Eva Wang, which is a Baba-Yaga-type-story. Although “Auntie Tigress” feels thoroughly Chinese, the content will nevertheless be familiar to Western readers. One that Cheshire feels would not work, is “Ollie’s Mountain Cherry Blossoms,” which celebrates a cherry festival that’s held each year on a specific mountain in Taiwan. Although it could be translated into English, and sold to tourists visiting the festival, it’s  too site-specific to have much U.S. appeal. Another one, whose title translates roughly as “The Boy in His Little Woods” features stunning artwork, but the book is 80-pages, in full-color. A typical picture book in the US is 32-pages, and retails for about $15. A retail price on an 80-page illustrated book, would effectively kill sales in the U.S. Compared to the United States, Taiwan has far more of an adult market willing to pay top dollar for illustrated books.

Other international publishers that have had co-publishing arrangements with American publishers, include the Swedish publisher, Rabén & Sjögren, who have co-published with Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Lemniscaat from Holland, who has a relationship with Front Street Books, and Coppenrath Verlag from Germany, which had a short-lived partnership with Parklane Publishing (now defunct).

Just like some of the titles on the Grimm Press list that pose specific content challenges to the American market, we have similar controversies at North-South Books. Cultural concerns are different from country-to-country, and we have many lively discussions with our colleagues in Europe. But I feel that a good editor can work with these challenges, so that books can travel across  borders. Purists might argue that we’re taking away something from the book by making editorial changes, but I’d argue that we’re giving authors and illustrator a voice in the U.S. where they wouldn’t have one otherwise.

One such book that we’re busily working on as I write, is “Invisible” by Katja Kamm, which is forthcoming on our Spring 2006 list. “Invisible” won Germany’s equivalent of the Caldecott – the Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis (Germany’s Youth Literature Prize) in 2003, and the graphic elements of the book—from the art to the design—are stunning. But when you look at the art from an American perspective, you see a horrific caricature, a peeing dog, women with swirly breasts (albeit painted on their dresses), and to top it all off, a little boy, cheekily showing off full-frontal nudity. Rather than just saying we wouldn't publish the book in the US, we presented our issues to the artist, and she has now revised her artwork for the US market. The charicature now looks like a regular human being, the dog is still peeing, but the swirly breasts have been modified, and while that cheeky boy is still quite obviously naked, he’s a little more discreet than he was in the previous rendition.	Art from "Invisible" by Katja Kamm, forthcoming from North-South Books

Aside from art issues, there are content issues that clash between countries. As far as picture books are concerned, I’m currently editing a French book about a kitten who is unable to purr. The product of super-busy-modern parents, the kitten has secretly nicknamed his mother “SpeedyMama” and his dad “LaterDad.” The kitten is concerned about not being a real cat since he can’t purr, and decides to go out and find someone who will teach him. He visits a snoring bear, a buzzing bee, a lawn-mower, a car with the engine running, but no one teaches him how to purr. Once his parents realize he’s been out a little longer than usual, the adult cats spend about a page on some heavy introspection, and realize that if they could just stop running around for about five minutes, their kitten might be able to relax long enough to learn how to purr. From an American perspective, the text on this page screams moralizing, smacking the reader over the head with helpful parenting hints. Despite this hurdle in the book, the overall the story is appealing. The art has a cozy, vintage feel, with a kitten who looks so soft and fluffy, that you want to pick him up off the page and hug him. So we’ll do some heavy-editing to adapt the story to the U.S. market. This is another case where I'd argue that a little editorial compromising can go a long way.

Different cultures have different sensibilities, and traditionally, ours is a hyper-sensitive, somewhat-prude one. Kaylee Davis, editor-in-chief of Children’s Book-of-the-Month club, used to work at North-South, and whenever she was tirelessly explaining to our Swiss colleagues why we didn’t want to publish something in the US, she’d always say: “Don’t forget – we are a nation that was founded by Puritans!” Indeed, some of those values are entrenched in our cultural make-up.

And on the same note, despite the vast amount of books that the United States exports each year, publishers in other countries have their own cultural hot-button topics that prevent certain books from traveling. Obviously, no European publisher is going to publish a book on Thanksgiving, nor is a Chinese publisher going to publish a Fourth of July story. In her book “A Bridge of Children’s Books,” Jella Lepman describes some of her own failed efforts to promote cultural exchange. She described what happened when she tried to convince an Indian woman that she should bring a book on singing cows to India: “Cows are sacred animals in India,” she said. ‘And besides that, they do not sing.’” (Lepman, 2001, page 136).

Looking at books from different countries can offer a fresh perspective to the lists of American publishers, and editors often look overseas when they want something different on the list—such as a book that will push the envelope of what’s been published in the United States. I’ve recently read several such books for Little, Brown, including a Swedish book called “Som om ingenting” (“As If Nothing”) by Katarina von Bredow, originally published by Rabén & Sjögren, which was about a nineteen-year-old girl who was having an affair with her best friend’s father. The father also happened to be her next-door-neighbor, and a good friend of her parents. Although the book was well-written, and did a great job of describing a teenage girl’s obsessive and forbidden love for an older man, Little, Brown eventually declined this title, as they felt the relationship between the girl and the much-older-adult was threatening. The sex scenes in “As If Nothing” were certainly exploitative. Little, Brown editor Nancy Concescu feels that as long as the sex in a young adult novel is between two people of relatively same age, that the sky is the limit. But Conescu feels there is a fine line between tasteful and scary to parents and kids, and she stresses the importance of risqué topics being handled in a tasteful way.

One envelope-pusher (published by Little, Brown), that Concescu feels tastefully handles a controversial topic, is “Luna” by Julie Anne Peters (Little, Brown), which is about a transgender teen. Books with challenging content can be difficult to acquire in-house because of the different levels of approval that are acquired from higher-ups in the company. Acquiring challenging books in other languages have those concerns and more. Translations are usually bought on the basis of a synopsis and a sample translation. A poor-quality translation can completely kill a book, but paying for high quality (and expensive) sample translations for books that one might never publish is risky too. Editors need to have good relationships with readers and translators, who can help make judgment calls on the book.

Another detriment to buying foreign books, is that unlike buying a manuscript from an American author, which involves a lot of collaborative work between the author and the editor, books coming from overseas have generally already been published at home, and often editors aren’t allowed to edit them as much as they might like. As a result, American editors don’t have the sort of relationship with an author as they would have if they were the primary editor of the book. On foreign deals, instead of working directly with the author, editors work with the foreign press’s publisher or rights director. And when that book is finally published, if the author doesn't speak English, he or she wouldn't have a publicity presence in the U.S. from interviews and author tours.

Another problem is the huge volume of books that are generated here in the U.S. each year. Publishers’ editorial departments tend to be short-staffed, and many editors are already inundated with very good projects coming from the U.S. On the positive side, bargains can often be had from overseas. International publishers are so eager to sell rights in the United States, that they are not so greedy when it comes to advances. In addition, many governments, such as the Dutch, German, and Danish governments, offer translation grants. Ironically, it seems that it might be better for foreign governments to invest their money in high-quality translations of books they are anxious to sell overseas, rather than in providing translation grants after the fact, but nevertheless, as it is now, often translations can be had nearly free-of-charge if the publisher is willing to do a little research. It takes a special editor, committed to international voices, to venture beyond America’s borders.

Cheryl Klein, editor at Scholastic's Arthur A. Levine Books, is one such editor. She was one of the U.S. editors selected by the German Book Office to go on their 2005 trip to Germany. The trip lasted eight days, of which five were spent visiting publishers. The group would see two or more publishers a day, and meet different teams of editors. Like Nancy Conescu, Klein feels that the number one barrier in importing books is the language barrier. Of the five editors who visited Germany, only one spoke German. Of course the books they were shown were in German, but so were the catalogs.  Klein feels it would be really helpful if international publishers interested in pursuing American rights sales would publish English language translations of their catalogs.

Scholastic is a company that has taken advantage of translation grants from foreign governments. They recently got a grant from the Dutch government, for a translation from Flemish into English, for “In the Shadow of the Ark” by  Anne Provoost, which was translated by John Nieuwenhuizen. The translator provided an interesting twist here. Nieuwenhuizen is a Dutch native, who lives in Australia. Since his English is flavored with Australian usage, Scholastic needed to Americanize the translation. Klein says that as far as content goes, almost anything is acceptable, and agrees with Conescu that “taste and literary talent” determines what is published in the United States. Klein points out that although there is plenty of sex in “In the Shadow of the Ark,” there was a whole lot more in the Flemish edition. Klein and Arthur Levine felt that at times, excessive sexual content interrupted the flow of the story. In the end, they felt that American readers would be distracted by the sex, whereas European readers had a more relaxed, laissez-faire attitude. Klein and Levine worked closely with the author, who recognized the needs of a different market, and she agreed to let them make some cuts.

While Klein was on the German Book Office’s German trip, she said that the American editors had to endure a fair amount of chastising from the Germans for not buying enough rights to German books. While Klein (and Arthur Levine) are big supporters of international books, Klein also understands why there is sometimes a lack of interest among American editors. In addition to the various challenges of importing titles, Klein pointed out the wealth of material offered in the US, and the amazing diversity that’s available right here. Editors in New York are inundated daily with fresh projects from agents and authors, and it takes a lot of energy to reach beyond these offerings for projects that most likely will take even more work. But Klein feels it’s important for Americans to think of people in other countries – and to use books to step out of their comfort zone. She feels that reading international books is “like going into another world.”

In addition to novels, Klein also regularly looks at and buys European picture books. Klein feels that illustration styles from France, Germany, or Spain, often are far more abstract and non-representational than what is popular in the United States. According to Klein comparing European art and American art is like comparing Frances Bacon and John Constable!

As far as international picture book texts are concerned, Klein feels that European picture books tend to have a lot more scatological humor than what is generally considered tasteful in the United States. Roddy Doyle’s book “The Giggler Treatment,” has creatures called “Gigglers” who plant dog poop in the street for adults to step in. The French cover featured a big pile of dung, and while this is indeed what the book is about, this was not the cover of choice for a book an American publisher, wanting to market it as a book with literary merit!

Just as we’ve noticed at North-South Books, Klein has also run into the philosophical content in French books. She feels that Americans prefer picture books that emphasize comfort and reassurance. Klein feels that it is far easier to import novels than picture books. With picture books, both the story and the art have to be acceptable, and they have to work together with minimal changes. As far as the art is concerned, Klein feels the potential for clashes is far greater, compared to novels, which Klein feels are far more malleable for the U.S. market. Working on novels, you are in charge of selecting a trusted translator, which means you get to select the style. You have your outline, your reader’s report, and once the manuscript is translated, you can see the content, and what needs to be changed. With illustrated books, the art is usually complete when you buy rights, at which point it’s difficult and expensive to go back and make changes.

Publishing international books in the United States is as difficult today as it ever was, but it doesn't have to be. Having a mildly subversive attitude is very useful when it comes to looking at international books, whether you’re trying to push the envelope, as Little, Brown wanted to do with the Swedish book “As If Nothing,” or trying to raise hackles, (Klein is currently working on a Dutch book about a boy who has visions of Jesus, and expects to get some attention from religious groups). Having an open-attitude, flexibility, and a willingness to compromise through culture clashes is also key, the way Scholastic did with "In the Shadow of the Ark," and the way we are working with Katja Kamm on "Invisible" at North-South Books.

International books are worth fighting for. Encouraging children to read literature from other countries and cultures allows them to grow up with a more worldly perspective on people, which in turn encourages understanding. “Books can make a difference in dispelling prejudice and building community: not with role models and literal recipes, not with noble messages about the human family, but with enthralling stories that make us imagine the lives of others.” (Rochman, 1993, pg. 19).

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