Flanders Literature's team will be present at the Bologna Children's Book Fair (1-4 April). You’ll find our grants managers Elise and Lien in Hall 30 at stand E27, 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.
A picture book full of crazy dialogue and vivid images providing hours of narrative fun
MappaLibri
This story started off as a theatrical performance, which is reflected in the humorous dialogue and sharp, staccato lines. The bright colours in the illustrations complement the theatrical story exceptionally well. A pleasure to look at, with vivid colours, comical characters and imaginative details.
His language roars, rumbles and crackles. Only a born storyteller can write like this.
NRC Handelsblad
In the figure of the wonderfully defiant Stans, Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem creates an unforgettable character, and subtly brings topical issues such as gender and identity into an extremely convincing historical setting. Ghent, Paris, Vienna and the battlefields near the Danube come to life in his sensuous language, so much so that the reader can smell the blood, taste the beer and feel the cannons in his belly.
Pieters invests Rabbit and Hedgehog with both a heart and a soul
NRC Handelsblad
Rabbit and Hedgehog are sworn friends. In these short stories, they ponder life, their friendship, the meaning of ‘later’, and always go back to each other after an argument. In the tradition of Arnold Lobel’s ‘Frog and Toad’ and Toon Tellegen’s animal fables, Paul Verrept and Nils Pieters have created two lovely new characters to cherish.
In ‘The Book of Life’ Floortje Zwigtman and Sassafras De Bruyn take a light-hearted look at everything to do with having a baby. Citing facts and legends from around the world, they show that wherever you go having a child is an event that gives rise to stories. Funny, lively and brimming with both facts and fiction, ‘The Book of Life’ is one of a kind.
Verrept needs just a few words to evoke the drama of far-reaching events.
MappaLibri
Fifteen-year-old Nabila has had enough of the monotonous life in her village. Egged on by the spirit in her head – her djinn – she travels to Beirut as a stowaway in her uncle’s taxi. Verrept sketches the hopelessness of life on the street in a city torn by both war and the widening gap between rich and poor. The greyish images with powerful charcoal lines and sombre colouring accentuate the dark threats to the city.
