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BATCHELDER CRITERIA
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From: Bowen, Brenda <BBowen>
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 15:09:08 -0500
Another word about the Batchelder!
I'm so distressed to see the comments about the elgibility of HOSTAGE TO WAR. We at Scholastic Press submitted HOSTAGE TO WAR precisely because it was "originally published in a foreign language (Russian) in a foreign country (Russia) and subsequently published in the United States." That it has also been translated into German, and that the translation is from the German, violates neither the letter nor (I believe) the spirit of the award. Remember, too, that as responsible translation publishers, we submitted the US edition to the author (in Russia) for her approval.
As Ginny Moore Kruse herself pointed out earlier, the award is to recognize a publisher who makes the effort to uncover and promote a book that would otherwise not reach children in this country. It is especially important to shed light on books published in former Soviet-bloc countries, and right now we may have to go through Germany or other European countries to do it. (Russian publishers don't go to many international trade shows!) If you read the list of criteria of the Batchelder award, you'll see that it allows for this kind of cross-cultural pollination, which, to me, is the whole point of publishing translated books.
If the Batchelder were an award for first original translation, the book would have been ineligible, but as the criteria are written, it appears that the Batchelder intends to be inclusive of this kind of book.
I would be very interested to hear from the Batchelder committee on this issue. Thanks! Brenda Bowen
Received on Mon 16 Mar 1998 02:09:08 PM CST
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 15:09:08 -0500
Another word about the Batchelder!
I'm so distressed to see the comments about the elgibility of HOSTAGE TO WAR. We at Scholastic Press submitted HOSTAGE TO WAR precisely because it was "originally published in a foreign language (Russian) in a foreign country (Russia) and subsequently published in the United States." That it has also been translated into German, and that the translation is from the German, violates neither the letter nor (I believe) the spirit of the award. Remember, too, that as responsible translation publishers, we submitted the US edition to the author (in Russia) for her approval.
As Ginny Moore Kruse herself pointed out earlier, the award is to recognize a publisher who makes the effort to uncover and promote a book that would otherwise not reach children in this country. It is especially important to shed light on books published in former Soviet-bloc countries, and right now we may have to go through Germany or other European countries to do it. (Russian publishers don't go to many international trade shows!) If you read the list of criteria of the Batchelder award, you'll see that it allows for this kind of cross-cultural pollination, which, to me, is the whole point of publishing translated books.
If the Batchelder were an award for first original translation, the book would have been ineligible, but as the criteria are written, it appears that the Batchelder intends to be inclusive of this kind of book.
I would be very interested to hear from the Batchelder committee on this issue. Thanks! Brenda Bowen
Received on Mon 16 Mar 1998 02:09:08 PM CST
