Children’s Literature in Translation: Tapioca Stories
Yael Berstein of Tapioca Stories
In recent years, a proliferation of books in translation for children and young adults has brought imaginative stories from around the world to new readers. We’re speaking with some of the extraordinary publishers who make these books possible about their experience working in this vital field.
For the eighth installment in
with Yael Berstein, founder of Tapioca Stories.
WWB: How did Tapioca Stories come into being?
Yael Berstein (YB): I’ve always loved illustrated books, maybe even more now, as an adult. It’s fascinating to see a good marriage between the illustration and the text both are essential to the flow of the narrative. Whenever I travel, I try to bring home books that display the beautiful styles of illustrated narrative from around the world.
New House to Focus on Latin American Translations By Ed Nawotka | Dec 17, 2020
With nearly 60 million Americans identifying as Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there is a fast-growing, untapped market for children’s stories from Latin America. Tapioca Stories is a new children’s book publisher that aims to fill that demand. The house launched earlier this year and released its first two titles this December. The first is from Argentina,
The Elevator by Yael Frankel, translated from the Spanish by Kit Maude. The second title is
The Invisible, a book of Brazilian poetry by Alcides Villaça and Andrés Sandoval, translated from the Portuguese by Flávia Rocha, with Endi Bogue Hartigan.