The Contribution of Translingual Writers to the Diversity of British and American Children’s Book Markets

Thousands of new children’s titles are published in the UK and the US each year, yet only between two and three per cent of those books are translations from other languages. However, it is vital for children in today’s multicultural societies to see cultural and linguistic diversity represented in books. Any translation of a foreign text is advantageous in this respect, but there is a segment of texts that may offer an even more unadulterated representation of non-UK and non-US cultures. These are texts by authors who write in English although that is not their primary language. These authors often introduce ‘foreign’ cultural concepts in their works published in the UK and the US. With the help of content analysis, I examine the text, illustrations, and peritext of 30 books by translingual writers to assess their contribution to children’s literature in terms of its diversity and inclusivity.