BOXER BOOKS WIN THE MARSH AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION 2011

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The 2011 Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation has been awarded to Martin Cleaver for his translation of Letters to Anyone and Everyone by Toon Tellegen, illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg. Boxer Books publisher David Bennett, delighted at the win, described Toon’s work as ‘a vault of gems’.

Toon Tellegen is one of the Netherlands most celebrated writers and his animal stories have been translated into 19 languages. The Dutch Foundation for Literature supported Boxer Books with publication, helping to secure a translator and gave financial help with the cost of translation.

Martin Cleaver said “I am honoured to receive the Marsh Award and delighted at this recognition. It has always been my dream that English-speaking children and adults should be able to enjoy literature and films from other cultures and language areas.” In addition to books, plays and even a cabaret, Cleaver has translated scripts and provided subtitles for over 200 Dutch films and documentaries.

The Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation, awarded biannually since 1996, was founded to highlight books made accessible to young people through translation, and to address a situation in the UK in which less than 3% of work published for children has been from the non-English speaking world. It aims to emphasise translation as an art.

This year's submissions included books translated from Danish, Dutch, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish.

The full shortlist follows:
The Pasta Detectives by Andreas Steinhöfel translated from German by Chantal Wright (The Chicken House, 2010)
Letters to Anyone and Everyone by Toon Tellegen translated from Dutch by Martin Cleaver (Boxer Books Ltd, 2009)
No and Me by Delphine de Vigan translated from French by George Miller (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010)
David's Story by Stig Dalager translated from Danish by Frances Østerfelt & Cheryl Robson (Aurora Metro Publications, 2010)