Beyond bringing books and children together: International children's literature advocacy in the UK today

Page, E. D. (2026) Beyond bringing books and children together: International children's literature advocacy in the UK today. PhD thesis, University of Reading. doi: 10.48683/1926.00128530

Abstract/Summary

Only a tiny percentage of children’s books published in English in the UK in any given year are translations from other languages. As a result, translating, publishing and promoting children’s literature in English translation is always already a politically, socially and artistically ‘committed act’. This project investigates the community of individuals and organisations whose work is guided by this ‘commitment’ to bringing international children’s literature to British audiences. These organisations and individuals, this thesis argues, are part of a transnational tradition of ‘international children’s literature advocacy’ which has its roots in the work of a small network of mostly European and US American children’s book professionals active during the post- WWII period. Although this is a field of enquiry which naturally resists neat division into national sub-fields, this thesis centres primarily on the contemporary UK manifestations of this international and transnational phenomenon. The study uses qualitative methods, arguing that international children’s literature advocacy is best understood using the heuristic of a habitus. This concept was coined by Pierre Bourdieu in the 1970s and more recently has been developed by translation studies scholars as part of a ‘human turn’ in the field. This research traces the development of the phenomenon it identifies as the ‘international children’s literature advocacy habitus’ in the British context, always with an awareness of international influences and connections. It identifies the key ‘international children’s literature advocates’ active in contemporary Britain, traces the networks within which they operate, and explores how the habitus shapes their work. The thesis concludes with a series of case studies describing the recent English-language translation of several Latin American children’s books by UK-based publishers. These cases demonstrate how the framework of an international children’s literature advocacy habitus offers new ways of understanding the marginal yet resilient phenomenon of children’s literature in English translation.

Item Type	Thesis (PhD)
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/128530
Identification Number/DOI	10.48683/1926.00128530
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Literature and Languages > Languages and Cultures
Date on Title Page	October 2025
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