Flanders Literature's team will be present at the Bologna Children's Book Fair (26-29 March). You’ll find our grants managers Elise and Lien in hall 22, stand C11-C12, talking to foreign publishers about the very best Flemish authors and illustrators and providing information about funding opportunities for books in translation. This is our selection of recent quality children's and YA literature from Flanders. Please contact us for an appointment if you like what you see. We’d love to meet you.
Her illustrations are delicate, intimate and extremely beautiful.
The Guardian on ‘When David Lost His Voice’
In this stunning visual tour-de-force, much-lauded cartoonist and illustrator Judith Vanistendael reinvents herself. She returns to the essence: armed with scissors, glue, paper and a risograph printer, she creates the purest sequence possible. ‘Round the Block’ is an ode to fantasy and Vanistendael’s more than successful debut for a new target audience.
An unbelievably beautiful book. A unique, authentic voice in Flemish literature.
Mappalibri
With a great sense of humour and a lightness of touch Evelien De Vlieger paints the portrait of a girl on the cusp of life, who thinks she wants to forget. ‘Wish You Were Here’ is about facing yourself, about letting go, and about daring to admit that you can’t. A bitter-sweet book full of lust for life.
In this two-metre-long colourful leporello, teeming with details and humour, we follow a girl and a boy on their voyage of discovery through a skyscraper and meet its remarkable residents. An enchanting wordless book that doubles as a measuring chart and exudes imagination and joyfulness.
A dazzling imaginary world full of colours and scents
Ons Erfdeel
In ‘Mrs Winter’s Hearth Fire’, a collection of 37 short stories about winter, Carl Norac and Gerda Dendooven give both a voice and a face to the year’s coldest season. They make winter sound and look radiant like never before. ‘Mrs Winter’s Hearth Fire’ celebrates winter in all its facets.
The illustrations are a feast of detail with lots of bright, cheerful colours.
De Leeswelp
Nellie the Mouse and Cezar the Frog have been inseparable for over twenty years and are best friends to little children. There’s a whole string of books and other publications around these two figures: from picture, text and activity books to a television series and hand puppets. Ingrid Godon and Bette Westera have now joined forces to give the franchise a fresh new overhaul.
Discover why the glow-worm glows, how the bombardier beetle got its name and in what way a caterpillar can disguise itself. An exceptional ode to the ultimate boss on earth, who will mesmerize young and old.
In this philosophical picture book, Elvis Peeters and Sebastiaan Van Doninck explore themes including home, property, and the budding awareness that others may have a very different take on things. ‘My Rock’ is a story about sharing the same space – a story that couldn’t be more topical today.
Modest and endearing yet grandiose and awe-inspiring at the same time
Pluizuit
Basiel, an enthusiastic pigeon fancier, travels the world with Pigeon and wins everything there is to win. But as he wants more and more, Basiel sets his sights on something no pigeon has done before.
All of his books are a feast to read and look at together
de Volkskrant
Leo Timmers shows off his best side in this cheery story about the scared cat Harry. He gives form to Harry’s quest with beautiful compositions and a relatively subdued colour palette. Timmers paints the fearful cat and his unfamiliar surroundings in his unique style, with precise details. A new highpoint in Timmers’ exceptional oeuvre.
A fantastically-designed book with surprising, funny facts and wonderful illustrations
Kinderboekwinkel Kakelbont
Did you know that a giraffe can lick the inside of its ears? That we have been brushing our teeth for thousands of years? That you can weigh your head by putting it in a bucket of water? Or that astronauts pee into a vacuum cleaner?
‘321 Super-smart Things You Have To Know’ is a fine pillow book for younger and older Einsteins.
In unconnected short texts, Ruth Mellaerts draws the reader into familiar situations, memories, thoughts and feelings. The interaction between words and illustrations lifts the book to a higher level and creates calm and beauty as well as words to ruminate on.
This duo invariably persuades with original and humorous stories
Cutting Edge
Tinkleman may be a super-hero, but his extraordinary gift - being able to fill an entire swimming pool with pee, and to pee in a nice straight stream without any splashes - is not often called upon.
