A Diary of a Cat

Could you guess by looking at the cover? Yes, Anya is a cat. A cat who likes her family, want's to explore the world outside her apartment, and keeps a diary. Written by Dimitar Bashevski, the book was first published in 1994 in Macedonian and appeared in English translation by Will Firth in 2007.

Cats have been literary muses for many famous writers. But, Dimitar Basevski is probably the only one who presents to us our human world from a cat's perspective. And our world is full of love and caring, but also cruelty. This book is a cry against this malice. All you cat lovers your collections will not be complete without this short, 100 page, novel for children that comes from Skopje, Macedonia.     

The book has been published by Slovo Press, Skopje, Macedonia.

Will Firth has also translated Pirey by Petre M. Andreevski. For other works translated by Will Firth you can check his website.

All About Love

 

If you are interested in children's stories with a more contemporary, urban setting you might like these two books that come from Zagreb, Croatia. Happy Days (1994/2011) and The Teacher of My Dreams (2006/2011) were written by Miro Gavran and translated into English by Nina H. Key-Antoljak.

Gavran is a well known contemporary Croatian writer of novels and plays, primarily for adults. In all his works he very often explores male-female relations. This theme is in the center of both Happy Days and The Teacher of My Dreams. Gavran has written, in his native Croatian language, seven novels for children. Interestingly, his first novel Forgotten Son (1989), not written specifically for children, has been selected for the IBBY 2002 Honor List. Happy Days won the 1995 Mato Lovrak Prize for Best Children's Novel. The Teacher of My Dreams won a special prize at the 2007 International Festival of Literature for Children and Young People in Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2001 Miro Gavran was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

Both of these books and some other books by Miro Gavran are available for Kindle.

For the Youngest

There is a colorful, bright and lyrical story staring animals that comes from former Yugoslavia. I have recently written a post about this book, but in Macedonian, so here it is in English as well. Some of you might be familiar with this beautiful picturebook, since it has been published in London by Istros Books, a new but rapidly developing publisher specialized in Eastern European literature, and Balkans literature in particular. Their only publication for children, so far, is Hedgehog's Home by Branko Ćopić.

The translation of the story in rhyme is craftily done by Susan Curtis and the illustrations are by Sanja Rešćek.

The original story was first published in 1949 in Zagreb inspiring young readers to love and protect their home, something so precious to the generation who just gone through the Second World War. Many generations in former Yugoslavia grow up with this story and the song based on the text. In its 2011 translation for the English speaking audience this love for the home shifts to the love for the natural environment and habitat, something so important to the kids of today.

The book has been many times put on stage in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia, most recently in Zagreb, Osijek and Sarajevo. Similarly the story was adapted for stage in UK as children's opera and musical.

Another review for this book is available at Outside In World, and if you want to buy your copy contact Istros Books directly.

More Short Stories

Another anthology of short stories for children comes from Macedonia. Created as part of the 130-book strong Translation Project Macedonian Literature in English funded by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, it was published in 2011 by the National and University Library St. Clement of Ohrid, Skopje. It is one of the four books in the project devoted to children's literature. The stories for the anthology were selected by Petre Dimovski, and translated into English by yours truly. It contains 68 stories written by 28 authors, covering a period from immediately after World War II, when "Macedonian children's literature had its beginnings" (p.7), up to 2007. As Dimovski points out in his introduction, the stories were selected to correspond with the broad distinction of three periods in the development of the Macedonian children's literature. At the beginning, Macedonian writers for children mostly relied on folklore and legends, with stories of rural life; the second generation of authors for children wrote about childhood experiences from a more lyrical and meditational point of view; and the third group of authors opened up to new horizons, with prevalent urban environments (pp. 11-13). 
The anthology includes well known children's authors such as Vanco Nikoleski, one of pioneers of children's literature in Macedonia, Vidoe Podgorec, Slavka Maneva, Boshko Smakjoski, Kiro Donev, Gorjan Petreski, as well as more recent figures. It's worth noting that only four of the 28 authors included in this anthology are women, with the prominent absence of Olivera Nikolova, one of most widely read women writers for children in Macedonia (and my all time favorite). To read this book you can check whether it is available at your local library, and here is the link to the British Library and the Library of Congress.