Global Literature in Libraries Initiative
Embedded Files
GLLI — the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative — is a nonprofit-style literary/librarian initiative built around collaboration between librarians, translators, publishers, editors, educators, and international-literature advocates. Its purpose is to increase the visibility of books from around the world, especially works translated into English, and to help libraries build more internationally representative collections.
2026
Winner
Literary Fiction / Graphic Memoir 14+
eBook
Self Portrait (2025 English translation) by Ludwig Volbeda, translated from Dutch by Lucy Scott, is a reflective coming-of-age work about identity, self-image, relationships, and the challenge of understanding who we are. Blending text and illustration, the book explores how young people see themselves and how that self-perception changes through friendship, love, uncertainty, and growing independence. Its quiet, introspective style makes it especially suited to readers who enjoy thoughtful, visually rich books about adolescence and identity. Self Portrait won the 2026 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize, whose committee praised its literary quality, emotional depth, and balance of artistic ambition and readability.
Ludwig Volbeda is a Dutch illustrator and author based in Amsterdam. Born in 1990, he has become known for highly detailed, expressive illustration and for work that combines visual storytelling with emotionally complex themes. Before writing Self Portrait, he illustrated several acclaimed children’s books and received major Dutch illustration awards. Self Portrait, translated into English by Lucy Scott, was selected as the 2026 GLLI Translated YA Book Prize winner.
Honor
Horror / Survival Fiction 13+
Beasts (2025 English translation) by Ingvild Bjerkeland, translated from Norwegian by Rosie Hedger, follows thirteen-year-old Abdi and his five-year-old sister Alva after terrifying creatures begin attacking people across Norway. Separated from their father, the siblings are forced to flee and survive in an increasingly dangerous world. Fast-paced and frightening, the novel combines horror with a powerful story about family, fear, resilience, and the choices people make in a crisis. Beneath the suspense, it also raises questions about how vulnerable people are treated during conflict and displacement. Beasts was named a 2026 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor Book, praised for its gripping pace and strong reader appeal.
Ingvild Bjerkeland is a Norwegian author who writes for children and young adults. Born in 1981, she has published several books for younger readers. Her novel Beasts won ARK’s Children’s Book Prize in 2023 and was nominated for the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize. The English translation by Rosie Hedger was selected as a 2026 GLLI Translated YA Honor Book. Her writing combines suspense and strong storytelling with themes of survival, family, vulnerability, and human behaviour under pressure.
Graphic Novel / Science Fiction 12+
The Big Tournament: Magda, Intergalactic Chef (2025 English translation) by Nicolas Wouters, illustrated by Mathilde Van Gheluwe and translated from French by Ann-Marie Boulanger, follows young chef Magda as she is chosen to represent her planet in a prestigious intergalactic cooking competition. Surrounded by more experienced competitors, Magda must overcome self-doubt while trying to make her family and community proud. As the tournament progresses, however, she begins to discover that something more troubling lies beneath its glamorous surface. Colourful, funny, and fast-paced, the graphic novel combines science fiction and cooking with themes of family, community, environmentalism, colonialism, competition, and courage. It was selected as a 2026 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor Book.
Nicolas Wouters is a Belgian comic-book writer, illustrator, teacher, and filmmaker born in Brussels in 1984. He studied communication, screenwriting, and comics, and later completed a doctorate in art and art sciences. Alongside his work as an author, he teaches comics and visual storytelling in Brussels. He created the Magda, Intergalactic Chef trilogy with illustrator Mathilde Van Gheluwe, combining imaginative adventure with contemporary social and environmental themes.
Graphic Nonfiction / History 13+
Hardcopy
The History of World War II: A Graphic Novel presents the major events, leaders, battles, and turning points of the Second World War in an accessible visual format. Using illustrations, maps, timelines, and concise explanations, the book introduces readers to the rise of fascism, the conflict in Europe and the Pacific, the Holocaust, resistance movements, and the war’s global consequences. The graphic-novel format makes a complex period of history more approachable while still addressing the scale and seriousness of the conflict. It was selected as a 2026 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor Book.
Arnaud de la Croix is a Belgian historian and author who has written widely on European and world history for general audiences. His work often aims to make complex historical subjects accessible through clear narrative and visual storytelling. In The History of World War II: A Graphic Novel, he combines historical research with the graphic-novel format to introduce younger readers to the causes, events, and consequences of the Second World War.
Shortlist
Fantasy / Adventure 12+
Movies Showing Nowhere (2021; English translation 2024) by Yorick Goldewijk, translated from Dutch by Laura Watkinson, follows twelve-year-old Cato, whose mother died when she was born and whose father has withdrawn into grief. When Cato discovers a mysterious old cinema run by Mrs Kano, she learns that its films can take people back into memories they thought were lost. What begins as a strange adventure becomes a moving journey into family, grief, memory, and the possibility of understanding the past. Blending fantasy, mystery, time travel, and emotional realism, the novel explores identity, loss, courage, and the ways memories shape who we become. The book won the Gouden Griffel, the Netherlands’ major children’s literature award, and was later translated into English.
Yorick Goldewijk is a Dutch author, composer, and translator who writes imaginative fiction for children and young adults. His work often combines fantasy and adventure with emotional themes such as identity, memory, family, and belonging. Movies Showing Nowhere became one of his best-known books, winning the 2022 Gouden Griffel and being translated into several languages. Goldewijk is also known for books including Thousand & I and The Tree That Was a World.
Fantasy / Adventure 12+
The Village Beyond the Mist (2025 English translation) by Sachiko Kashiwaba, translated from Japanese by Avery Fischer Udagawa and illustrated by Miho Satake, follows a young girl who becomes separated from her planned summer destination and discovers a mysterious village hidden beyond the mist. As she meets its unusual residents and gradually becomes part of their world, she is drawn into a series of strange, whimsical, and sometimes unsettling experiences. Blending fantasy, adventure, and coming-of-age, the novel explores independence, courage, curiosity, belonging, and the discovery of unfamiliar communities. The story was originally published in Japan in 1975 and later became one of the inspirations associated with the imaginative tradition that includes Spirited Away.
Sachiko Kashiwaba is a Japanese author of children’s and young adult fantasy whose work often blends everyday life with magical and folkloric elements. Born in 1953, she has published numerous novels for young readers and is widely respected in Japan for imaginative storytelling rooted in Japanese culture and folklore. Her books include The Village Beyond the Mist and Temple Alley Summer, both of which have reached English-language readers through translation. Her work frequently explores wonder, courage, identity, and the boundary between ordinary and magical worlds.
Historical Fiction / Adventure 14+
Daughter of Doom (2025 English translation) by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem, translated from Dutch by Kristen Gehrman, is set in Denmark around AD 870 during the Viking Age. The novel follows Yrsa, a young woman who has grown up in a warrior community and believes she can glimpse the fate woven for people by the Norns. When a high-ranking Christian hostage named Sister Job is brought to the village, the two form an unlikely bond. After a violent assault forces them to flee, they set out across a dangerous world shaped by war, religion, fate, and survival. The novel blends historical adventure with questions about faith, free will, identity, and the expectations placed on young women. It was shortlisted for the 2026 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem is a Belgian author and screenwriter who writes historical fiction for young adults. His books often feature strong young protagonists navigating societies shaped by war, gender expectations, class, and political change. His other translated novel, Ironhead, or Once a Young Lady, also received international attention. Daughter of Doom was originally published in Dutch and later translated into English by Kristen Gehrman.
2025
Winner
Historical Thriller / Mystery 15+
Hardcopy
The Darkness of Colours (2024 English translation) by Martín Blasco, translated from Spanish by Claire Storey, is a historical thriller set across two time periods. In 1885, five babies are kidnapped as part of a disturbing social experiment designed to test the influence of nature and upbringing. Twenty-five years later, the children—now adults—suddenly return to their biological families with little memory of what happened to them. When a journalist begins investigating, he uncovers a dark story involving manipulation, identity, science, and power. Fast-paced and unsettling, the novel explores nature versus nurture, memory, morality, and the dangers of treating human lives as experiments. It won the 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Martín Blasco is an Argentinian author and screenwriter born in Buenos Aires in 1976. He studied film and has worked in television as well as writing fiction for children and young adults. Several of his books have received international recognition, including selections for the White Ravens catalogue, and he won the Colibrí Medal from IBBY Chile for his YA novel Los extrañamientos. The Darkness of Colours, translated into English by Claire Storey, won the 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Honor
Graphic Novel / Contemporary Fiction / Social Issues 15+
The Book of Denial by Ricardo Chávez Castañeda, translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel and illustrated/designed by Alejandro Magallanes, is a visually striking work about denial, silence, and the difficult truths people choose not to confront. Through a combination of text and graphic design, the book explores how individuals and societies can ignore painful realities even when those realities are directly in front of them. Its fragmented, experimental form invites readers to think about fear, responsibility, complicity, and the consequences of looking away. The book was recognized by the 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Ricardo Chávez Castañeda is a Mexican author known for writing fiction for children, young adults, and adults. His work often explores social conflict, violence, memory, fear, morality, and the difficult choices people make under pressure. He has received major literary recognition in Mexico and internationally, and his books have been translated into several languages. The Book of Denial brings together his writing with the visual work of Alejandro Magallanes, creating a distinctive hybrid of literature and graphic design.
Shortlist
Historical Fiction / Romance 13+
eBook
Our Beautiful Darkness (2024 English translation) by Ondjaki, illustrated by António Jorge Gonçalves and translated from Portuguese by Lyn Miller-Lachmann, is set in Angola during the civil war of the 1990s. During a blackout, a teenage boy and girl sit together in the darkness and begin talking about their families, memories, fears, dreams, and the uncertain world around them. As their conversation deepens, the darkness becomes a space where they can be honest and vulnerable with one another, and where friendship begins to shift toward first love. Quiet, poetic, and intimate, the book combines personal memory with Angola’s history and explores adolescence, war, storytelling, tenderness, and hope. It was shortlisted for the 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Ondjaki is an Angolan writer, poet, and filmmaker born in Luanda in 1977. Ondjaki is the pen name of Ndalu de Almeida. He writes poetry, novels, short stories, drama, film scripts, and books for young readers, often drawing on Angolan history, memory, childhood, and everyday life. His work has received major international recognition, including the José Saramago Prize. Our Beautiful Darkness brings his lyrical storytelling to young adult readers through a story of first love set against the backdrop of Angola’s civil war.
Historical Fiction 11+
eBook
The Wildcat Behind Glass (1963; new English translation 2024) by Alki Zei, translated from Greek by Karen Emmerich, is set on a Greek island in 1936 as dictatorship and fascism begin to reshape everyday life. Seven-year-old Melia and her older sister Myrto spend their summer surrounded by family stories, games, and the mysterious stuffed wildcat kept in their great-aunt’s house. But as political tensions grow, their cousin Nikos is forced into hiding, adults become fearful of the authorities, and the sisters begin to understand that the world around them is changing. Told through a child’s perspective, the novel explores family, freedom, courage, political division, and the gradual loss of innocence under authoritarian rule. The 2024 translation was named a 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor Book.
Alki Zei was a Greek novelist and one of the most important figures in modern Greek children’s literature. Born in Athens in 1923, she studied philosophy, drama, and screenwriting and was also active in left-wing politics. Political persecution led her to spend periods in exile in the Soviet Union and later in Paris before returning to Greece in 1974. Her novels often combine children’s perspectives with major historical and political events, exploring freedom, resistance, family, and social change. The Wildcat Behind Glass was her first novel and became a classic of Greek children’s literature, translated into many languages.
Science Fiction / Dystopian Fiction 14+
Snowglobe (2020; English translation 2024) by Soyoung Park, translated from Korean by Joungmin Lee Comfort, is a dystopian science-fiction novel set in a frozen future where most people live in poverty outside the climate-controlled city of Snowglobe. Inside the dome, wealthy residents live as celebrities whose lives are constantly broadcast to the outside world. When famous star Haeri suddenly dies, teenager Chobahm is recruited to take her place and preserve the illusion that everything is perfect. As Chobahm enters a world of wealth, fame, surveillance, and manipulation, she begins to uncover disturbing secrets beneath Snowglobe’s glamorous surface. Fast-paced and suspenseful, the novel explores inequality, identity, media influence, privilege, and the cost of living under constant observation. Snowglobe was shortlisted for the 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Soyoung Park is a South Korean author whose fiction combines speculative storytelling with contemporary social themes. Snowglobe became a bestseller in Korea and gained international attention following its English translation. Her work explores technology, fame, inequality, surveillance, identity, and the pressures created by highly controlled societies. The English edition of Snowglobe was shortlisted for the 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Contemporary Fiction / Social Issues 14+
The Wild Ones by Antonio Ramos Revillas, translated from Spanish, follows a group of teenagers growing up in a difficult urban environment where friendship, loyalty, family pressure, poverty, and violence shape everyday life. The novel focuses on young people who are often judged from the outside but whose experiences reveal resilience, humour, vulnerability, and a strong need to belong. Fast-paced and direct, the book explores adolescence, inequality, masculinity, social exclusion, and the choices young people make when opportunities are limited. The Wild Ones was shortlisted for the 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Antonio Ramos Revillas is a Mexican author and editor from Monterrey whose work includes fiction for children, young adults, and adults. His writing often explores urban life, adolescence, social inequality, family, and the experiences of young people on the margins. He has received recognition in Mexico and internationally for his contribution to contemporary literature for younger readers. The Wild Ones brought his work to a wider English-language audience and was shortlisted for the 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Contemporary Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Indigenous Sámi 14+
Fire from the Sky (2021; English translation 2023) by Moa Backe Åstot, translated from Swedish by Eva Apelqvist, follows sixteen-year-old Ánte, a Sámi teenager growing up in northern Sweden and immersed in his family’s reindeer-herding traditions. Ánte has always assumed that his future will remain closely tied to his community, but his feelings for his best friend Erik force him to question how his sexuality fits within the expectations around him. As he struggles with secrecy, internalized homophobia, family expectations, and the fear of losing his place in Sámi life, Ánte must decide whether he can be fully himself without abandoning the culture and community he loves. The novel explores first love, identity, belonging, tradition, and the pressures faced by LGBTQ+ young people in close-knit communities. It received a Michael L. Printz Honor and was shortlisted for the 2025 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Moa Backe Åstot is a Swedish Sámi author and reindeer owner born in Malmberget in 1998. She studied creative writing at Umeå University and writes fiction that explores Sámi identity, culture, language, family, sexuality, and contemporary life in northern Sweden. Fire from the Sky, her debut novel, brought her work to an international audience and received a Michael L. Printz Honor in its English translation. Her later novel Butterfly Heart also explores Sámi identity and belonging.
2024
Winner
Graphic Nonfiction / Feminism 13+
Smash the Patriarchy: A Graphic Novel (2023 English translation) by Marta Breen and Jenny Jordahl, translated from Norwegian by Siân Mackie, is an illustrated introduction to the history of patriarchy and feminism. Using humour, comics, historical examples, and short biographies, the book shows how ideas about women’s supposed inferiority have shaped education, work, politics, religion, and everyday life across centuries. It also introduces important feminist thinkers and activists, from Mary Wollstonecraft to Malala Yousafzai, while touching on intersectional feminism and the continuing struggle for equality. Accessible and visually engaging, it was named the 2024 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize winner.
Marta Breen is a Norwegian nonfiction author, journalist, and feminist writer, and Jenny Jordahl is a Norwegian illustrator, cartoonist, and author. They have collaborated on several books exploring feminism, equality, and women’s history, using a combination of research, humour, and visual storytelling to make complex social issues accessible to younger readers. Jordahl has also received major Norwegian illustration awards for her work. Together, Breen and Jordahl created Smash the Patriarchy, which won the 2024 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Honor
Historical Non-Fiction 12+
The Bodyguard Unit: Edith Garrud, Women’s Suffrage, and Jujitsu (2024 English edition) tells the remarkable true story of Edith Garrud, a pioneering martial arts instructor who trained a secret group of women to protect suffragette leaders in early twentieth-century Britain. When activists campaigning for women’s right to vote faced harassment, arrest, and violence, Garrud and her students used jujitsu to defend themselves and support the movement. Through dynamic illustrations and engaging storytelling, this graphic novel brings to life a fascinating chapter of history while exploring themes of courage, equality, activism, and standing up for change.
Clément Xavier and Lisa Lugrin are French graphic novel creators known for transforming historical events into accessible and engaging stories for young readers. Illustrator Albertine Ralenti brings the narrative to life with vivid artwork that captures both the energy of the suffrage movement and the determination of its participants. Together, they shine a light on an inspiring but often overlooked figure in the fight for women's rights.
Shortlist
Graphic Novel / LGBTQ+ / Coming of Age 13+
Pardalita (2023 English translation) by Joana Estrela, translated from Portuguese by Lyn Miller-Lachmann, follows sixteen-year-old Raquel as she slowly becomes fascinated by a girl at school known as Pardalita. What begins with passing encounters in hallways and drama rehearsals develops into an intimate exploration of attraction, uncertainty, friendship, and first love. Told through a distinctive mix of prose, poetry, and black-and-white illustrations, the book captures the emotional intensity of adolescence and the small details that make another person suddenly feel important. Pardalita was shortlisted for the 2024 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Joana Estrela is a Portuguese author and illustrator whose work combines visual storytelling with themes of identity, relationships, family, and growing up. Her books often blur the boundaries between graphic novel, illustrated fiction, and memoir-like storytelling. Pardalita, first published in Portuguese in 2021 and translated into English in 2023, brought her work to a wider international audience and was shortlisted for the 2024 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Graphic Memoir / Historical Nonfiction 12+
The Boy from Clearwater: Book 1 (2023 English edition) by Yu Pei-Yun, illustrated by Zhou Jian-Xin and translated by Lin King from Hoklo Taiwanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese, tells the true story of Tsai Kun-lin growing up in Taiwan during Japanese rule and the turbulent years that followed World War II. A book-loving teenager, Tsai is later falsely accused of espionage during Taiwan’s White Terror period and sentenced to ten years on Green Island. Through powerful illustrations, multilingual text, historical notes, and archival material, the book explores political repression, resilience, family, identity, and the power of reading and memory. It was a 2024 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor Book and also won the Freeman Book Award in the graphic novel category.
Yu Pei-Yun is a Taiwanese writer, scholar, and professor of children’s literature, and Zhou Jian-Xin is a Taiwanese illustrator and visual artist. Yu teaches at the Graduate Institute of Children’s Literature at National Taitung University and works across writing, translation, criticism, and children’s literature research. Zhou has studied visual arts and children’s literature and created the book’s distinctive illustrations, which shift in tone as Tsai Kun-lin’s life moves from childhood into imprisonment and political persecution. Together, they transformed Tsai’s life story into an accessible graphic account of 20th-century Taiwanese history.
Historical Mystery / Crime 12+
The Night Raven (2021; English translation 2023) by Johan Rundberg, translated from Swedish by A. A. Prime, is the first book in The Moonwind Mysteries, a historical crime series set in Stockholm in 1880. Twelve-year-old Mika is an orphan living in a children’s home who has learned to survive by being observant, practical, and resourceful. When a baby is abandoned at the orphanage and a series of disturbing crimes begins to unfold, Mika becomes involved in an investigation with police constable Valdemar Hoff. As the mystery deepens, she is drawn into the darker side of the city, where poverty, class, corruption, and danger sit just beneath Stockholm’s elegant surface. Atmospheric and suspenseful, the novel combines mystery with social history and a strong young protagonist. It was shortlisted for the 2024 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Johan Rundberg is a Swedish author from Stockholm who writes historical fiction and mystery for young readers. His Moonwind Mysteries series has received major recognition in Scandinavia and internationally. The Night Raven won the 2021 August Prize for Swedish children’s and young adult literature, as well as other children’s book awards, and Rundberg received the Astrid Lindgren Prize in 2023 for his contribution to children’s and young adult literature. His writing is known for combining suspense, vivid historical settings, and socially observant young protagonists.
Contemporary / War Fiction 13+
Wild Poppies (2023 English translation) by Haya Saleh, translated from Arabic by Marcia Lynx Qualey, follows two Syrian brothers, Omar and Sufyan, whose family is forced to flee after their father is killed during the civil war. Fifteen-year-old Omar tries to keep the family together through cautious, practical choices, while twelve-year-old Sufyan becomes involved with a group that promises food and money in exchange for increasingly dangerous tasks. When Sufyan is taken away and drawn into armed extremism, Omar must find the courage to rescue him. Told through the alternating perspectives of the two brothers, the novel explores war, displacement, family responsibility, radicalization, survival, and the difficult choices young people face in conflict. Wild Poppies was shortlisted for the 2024 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Haya Saleh is a Jordanian author, journalist, and writer of children’s and young adult literature. Her work often addresses the experiences of young people living through conflict, displacement, and social change in the Arab world. Wild Poppies, originally published in Arabic in 2020, was translated into English by Marcia Lynx Qualey and brought her work to a wider international readership.
2023
Winner
Contemporary Fiction / LGBTQ+ 14+
eBook
This Is Our Place (2022 English edition) by Vitor Martins, translated from Brazilian Portuguese by Larissa Helena, follows three queer teenagers living in the same house in a small Brazilian town across three different decades. In 2000, Ana is preparing to leave her childhood home and her girlfriend behind; in 2010, Greg moves in with his aunt while his parents separate; and in 2020, Beto is forced to put his dreams on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic. Narrated by the house itself, the novel explores family, first love, identity, change, and the ways different generations can be connected without ever meeting. It won the 2023 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Vitor Martins is a Brazilian author, illustrator, and translator from Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro. His young adult novels frequently explore queer identity, friendship, family, body image, and belonging with warmth and humour. His debut novel, Here the Whole Time, was also a GLLI Translated YA Book Prize winner, making This Is Our Place his second book to receive the award.
Shortlist
Contemporary Fantasy / Coming of Age 13+
The Cat Who Saved Books (2017; English translation 2021) by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, follows Rintaro Natsuki, a quiet high-school student grieving the death of his grandfather. Rintaro expects to close the second-hand bookshop he has inherited, but then a talking tabby cat named Tiger appears and asks for his help rescuing books that are being mistreated or neglected. Their journey takes them through a series of strange labyrinths, where Rintaro encounters people who value books for speed, status, or profit rather than for the ideas and experiences they contain. Warm, philosophical, and imaginative, the novel explores grief, courage, friendship, reading, critical thinking, and the power of literature to connect people.
Sosuke Natsukawa is a Japanese physician and novelist born in Osaka Prefecture in 1978 and based in Nagano. He graduated from Shinshu University School of Medicine and continues to work as a doctor alongside his writing. His literary career began with the bestselling Kamisama no Karute (God’s Medical Records) series, which sold more than three million copies in Japan and was adapted for film. The Cat Who Saved Books became an international bestseller and was his first novel translated into English.
Historical Fiction / Adventure / Gender 15+
Ironhead, or Once a Young Lady (2022 English translation) by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem, translated from Dutch by Kristen Gehrman, is set in Ghent in 1808 during the Napoleonic Wars. Eighteen-year-old Constance “Stance” Hoste is expected to behave like a respectable young woman, but she has little interest in the life planned for her. When circumstances force her to flee, she cuts her hair, dresses as a man, and eventually joins Napoleon’s army. The novel alternates between Stance and her younger brother Pieter as both are drawn into war, family crisis, and personal transformation. Fast-paced and often funny, it explores gender expectations, freedom, family loyalty, class, courage, and the search for an independent life. It was shortlisted for the 2023 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem is a Belgian author, screenwriter, and film producer known for historical fiction featuring strong young protagonists. His books often explore gender roles, social expectations, war, religion, and personal freedom with a mix of humour and adventure. Ironhead, or Once a Young Lady received starred reviews and was selected for the 2023 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize shortlist. His later novel Daughter of Doom was also shortlisted for the GLLI prize in 2026.
Graphic Memoir / Body Image / Mental Health 14+
My Body in Pieces (2019; English translation 2021) by Marie-Noëlle Hébert, translated from French by Shelley Tanaka, is a deeply personal graphic memoir about growing up with intense dissatisfaction about one’s body. Moving between childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, Hébert reflects on bullying, family comments, beauty standards, eating, self-esteem, and the pressure to look a certain way. Drawn almost entirely in graphite pencil, the memoir uses fragmented images and memories to show the emotional impact of body shame and the difficult process of learning self-acceptance. Honest and sometimes painful, the book explores body image, depression, family relationships, loneliness, and recovery. It was shortlisted for the 2023 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize and the original French edition won the 2020 Prix des libraires du Québec.
Marie-Noëlle Hébert is a Canadian author and illustrator from Quebec who lives in Montreal. Largely self-taught as an artist, she studied advertising illustration at Collège Salette and has worked in illustration for books and film projects. My Body in Pieces was her first graphic novel and draws directly on her own experiences with body image and self-esteem. The original French edition, La grosse laide, won the 2020 Prix des libraires du Québec, and the English translation was shortlisted for the 2023 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Graphic Memoir / War / Refugee Experience 15+
Alice on the Run: One Child’s Journey Through the Rwandan Civil War (2022 English edition) by Gaspard Talmasse, translated from French by Nanette McGuinness, tells the true story of Alice Cyuzuzo, who was five years old when the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and subsequent violence forced her family to flee Rwanda. Travelling through what was then Zaire, Alice moves from one refugee camp to another as her family tries to survive hunger, displacement, violence, and repeated attacks. Told largely through a child’s perspective, the graphic memoir avoids abstract political explanations and instead shows how war and forced migration affect ordinary family life. Powerful and often harrowing, it explores childhood, displacement, survival, family, memory, and the human consequences of conflict.
Gaspard Talmasse is a Belgian graphic artist, illustrator, and comics creator who studied visual arts and comics at the Saint-Luc Institute in Liège. He has worked in illustration, animation, storyboarding, and graphic storytelling. Alice on the Run is based on the experiences of Alice Cyuzuzo, who later became his partner, and was created from her memories of fleeing Rwanda and growing up amid displacement and conflict. Talmasse’s work combines documentary testimony with visual storytelling to make complex historical experiences accessible on a deeply personal level.
Dark Fairy Tale / Illustrated Fiction 14+
You Can’t Kill Snow White (2022 English edition) by Beatrice Alemagna, translated from French by Karin Snelson and Emilie Robert Wong, retells the familiar Snow White story from the perspective of the jealous queen. Rather than presenting a simple battle between good and evil, the book enters the queen’s troubled inner world and explores the fear, envy, narcissism, rage, and obsession that drive her actions. Alemagna’s unsettling paintings make the story feel more psychological and disturbing than traditional versions of the fairy tale, while also asking readers to think about cruelty, beauty, innocence, punishment, and the darker parts of human nature. It was shortlisted for the 2023 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize. The publisher recommends it for ages 14+.
Beatrice Alemagna is an Italian author and illustrator born in Bologna and based in Paris. She has written and illustrated dozens of internationally acclaimed books, known for distinctive artwork that combines painting, collage, texture, and experimental visual storytelling. Her work has been translated widely, and she has been repeatedly nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. You Can’t Kill Snow White was created specifically as a visually sophisticated picture book for teenagers and adults.
2022
Winner
Graphic Novel / Fantasy / Folklore 14+
eBook
Oksi (2021 English translation) by Mari Ahokoivu, translated from Finnish by Silja-Maaria Aronpuro, is a haunting graphic novel rooted in Finnish folklore. It follows Poorling, a strange little creature who longs to be accepted by her bear mother, Umi, and to belong among her brothers. As Poorling discovers the power to transform, her search for identity and belonging draws her into a darker world of magic, violence, rejection, and ancient forces. Blending mythology, fantasy, horror, and family drama, the book explores motherhood, identity, creation and destruction, trust, betrayal, and redemption. Oksi won the 2022 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Mari Ahokoivu is a Finnish comics artist, illustrator, and graphic novelist born in Finland in 1984. She has been publishing comics professionally since 2007 and is known for work that blends fantasy, folklore, dark humour, and visual experimentation. She both wrote and illustrated Oksi, which was first published in Finnish in 2018 and later translated into English by Silja-Maaria Aronpuro. Ahokoivu has received major recognition in Finland, including the Finnish Comics Society’s Puupäähattu award.
Honor
Fantasy 12+
The Immortal Boy (Spanish original; English translation 2024) by Francisco Montaña Ibáñez follows a boy who discovers that immortality is not the gift it first appears to be. As he navigates a world shaped by memory, loss, and wonder, he begins to question what makes life meaningful. Blending fantasy with philosophical reflection, this thought-provoking novel explores friendship, mortality, and the importance of human connections. A moving story that invites young readers to reflect on what it truly means to be alive.
Francisco Montaña Ibáñez is a Colombian author, educator, and literary advocate known for writing thoughtful fiction for young people. His work often explores imagination, ethics, identity, and the emotional challenges of growing up, earning recognition across Latin America.
Shortlist
Contemporary Fiction / Mental Health / Coming of Age 14+
Colorful (1998; English translation 2021) by Eto Mori, translated from Japanese by Jocelyne Allen, follows a soul that is given another chance at life by inhabiting the body of Makoto Kobayashi, a fourteen-year-old boy who has recently died by suicide. Told that this second chance is temporary, the narrator must discover what serious mistake they committed in a previous life while also trying to understand Makoto’s family, friendships, and unhappiness. As the story unfolds, the narrator begins to see that other people’s lives are more complicated than they first appear. Thoughtful, compassionate, and often surprisingly funny, the novel explores depression, suicide, family conflict, friendship, identity, empathy, and the possibility of seeing life differently. It was shortlisted for the 2022 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Eto Mori is a Japanese novelist and children’s author born in Tokyo in 1968. She has written widely for children, teenagers, and adults and is known for emotionally perceptive stories about adolescence, family, identity, and human relationships. Colorful became one of her best-known novels in Japan, won the Sankei Children’s Book Award, and has been adapted several times for film and animation. The English translation by Jocelyne Allen introduced the novel to a wider international readership.
Contemporary Fiction / Coming of Age / Nature 14+
The Easy Life in Kamusari (2009; English translation 2021) by Shion Miura, translated from Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter, follows Yuki Hirano, a recent high-school graduate from Yokohama whose parents unexpectedly send him to a forestry training programme in the remote mountain village of Kamusari. At first, Yuki dislikes everything about rural life: the isolation, the hard physical work, and the lack of familiar comforts. Gradually, however, he begins to understand the rhythms of forestry, the traditions of the village, and the people who have built their lives around the forest. Warm, humorous, and reflective, the novel explores growing up, community, work, environmental stewardship, tradition, and the possibility of finding purpose in an unexpected place. It was later adapted into the Japanese film Wood Job! and has sold more than 600,000 copies in Japan.
Shion Miura is a Japanese novelist and essayist born in Tokyo in 1976. A graduate of Waseda University, she has become one of Japan’s prominent contemporary writers, receiving major honours including the Naoki Prize and the Japan Booksellers’ Award. Her novels frequently explore work, community, relationships, and people discovering meaning through unexpected passions. Her internationally translated books include The Great Passage, The Easy Life in Kamusari, Kamusari Tales Told at Night, and Run with the Wind.
Graphic Novel / Fantasy / Adventure 12+
Seekers of the Aweto: The Hunt Is On (2021 English edition) by Nie Jun, translated into English by Edward Gauvin, follows Xinyue, his brother Qiliu, and their mother, who travel along a fantastical version of the Silk Road searching for aweto, a rare plantlike treasure believed to cure illness and, in its rarest form, grant eternal life. Their search depends on harvesting aweto from enormous earth deities, but after one expedition Xinyue discovers the child of one of these creatures and secretly becomes its protector. He soon finds himself caught between his family’s livelihood, the warriors searching for the young deity, and his growing sense that the creatures they hunt may deserve protection rather than exploitation. Visually rich and fast-paced, the graphic novel blends Chinese mythology, fantasy, adventure, environmental themes, family loyalty, and questions about greed and responsibility.
Nie Jun is a Chinese comics artist, author, and illustrator based in Beijing. He began drawing by copying lianhuanhua, traditional Chinese sequential art, before becoming influenced by comics and illustration from Europe, Japan, and elsewhere. He also teaches drawing to university students. His books include My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder and the Seekers of the Aweto series, which combines Chinese cultural and mythological influences with imaginative fantasy storytelling.
2021
Winners
Contemporary Fiction / LGBTQ+ 14+
eBook
Here the Whole Time (2020 English translation) by Vitor Martins, translated from Brazilian Portuguese by Larissa Helena, follows Felipe, a shy, fat teenager who is looking forward to spending summer break alone—until he learns that Caio, his longtime crush, will be staying at his house for two weeks. What begins as an awkward and anxiety-filled situation gradually becomes a tender story about friendship, attraction, self-confidence, body image, and learning to see yourself with greater kindness. Warm, funny, and emotionally honest, the novel explores insecurity, bullying, family relationships, queer identity, and first love. It was a 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize co-winner.
Vitor Martins is a Brazilian author, illustrator, and translator from Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro. His young adult novels frequently explore queer identity, friendship, family, body image, and belonging with warmth and humour. His debut novel, Here the Whole Time, was also a GLLI Translated YA Book Prize winner, making This Is Our Place his second book to receive the award.
Contemporary Fiction / LGBTQ+ 16+
eBook
Where We Go from Here (2020 English translation) by Lucas Rocha, translated from Brazilian Portuguese by Larissa Helena, follows three young men in Brazil whose lives intersect through HIV. Ian has just tested positive and is struggling with fear and uncertainty; Victor is living with HIV and has learned how to manage the condition; and Henrique is navigating relationships, stigma, and the possibility of intimacy. Through their connected stories, the novel explores friendship, love, sexuality, prejudice, health, disclosure, and the importance of accurate information about HIV. Compassionate and hopeful, it challenges stigma while showing how support and knowledge can change lives. It was a 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize co-winner.
Lucas Rocha is a Brazilian author and librarian whose work focuses on LGBTQ+ young adult experiences, relationships, identity, and social issues. Where We Go from Here was his first novel to be translated into English and received significant international recognition, including being named a 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize co-winner. His writing is known for combining accessible storytelling with thoughtful treatment of sexuality, health, stigma, and community.
Shortlist
Contemporary Mystery / Romance 13+
A Castle in the Clouds (2017; English translation 2020) by Kerstin Gier, translated from German by Romy Fursland, follows seventeen-year-old Sophie, who is working as an intern at an aging grand hotel high in the Swiss Alps. As the hotel prepares for its glamorous New Year’s Eve celebration, Sophie begins to notice that some of the guests are not quite who they claim to be. Strange behaviour, hidden motives, valuable jewels, and an increasingly dangerous mystery pull her into an adventure that could threaten both her job and her safety. Witty and atmospheric, the novel blends mystery, romance, humour, and suspense while exploring independence, trust, and finding your own path. It was shortlisted for the 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Kerstin Gier is a German author of young adult and adult fiction born in 1966. She is internationally known for imaginative novels that combine romance, mystery, humour, and fantasy. Her books include the bestselling Ruby Red trilogy, the Silver trilogy, and A Castle in the Clouds, and her work has been translated into many languages. She lives near Cologne, Germany.
Historical Fiction 14+
eBook
Abigail (1970; English translation 2020) by Magda Szabó follows fourteen-year-old Gina Vitay, who is suddenly sent away from Budapest to a strict boarding school during World War II. Angry, confused, and isolated from her father, Gina struggles to adapt to the school’s rigid rules and traditions. She eventually learns about Abigail, a mysterious figure whom students believe helps those in danger. As the war intensifies, Gina begins to understand why she was sent away and discovers that the people around her may be protecting her in ways she never imagined. Blending coming-of-age, mystery, friendship, and wartime tension, the novel explores courage, trust, loyalty, resistance, and the loss of innocence.
Magda Szabó was a Hungarian novelist, poet, and translator and is regarded as one of Hungary’s most important 20th-century writers. Born in Debrecen in 1917, she lived through war, dictatorship, and censorship, experiences that shaped much of her writing. Her novels often explore family relationships, memory, secrecy, morality, and the pressures of history on individual lives. Her best-known works in English include Abigail, The Door, and Katalin Street. Abigail became one of her most beloved novels in Hungary and has introduced a new generation of international readers to her work.
Graphic Novel / Horror / Dystopian Fiction 14+
Ever After (2020 English edition) by Olivia Vieweg is a post-apocalyptic graphic novel set in Germany after a zombie-like outbreak has devastated society. Vivi and Eva are two young women travelling between fortified safe zones when their train breaks down, leaving them stranded in the countryside among the undead. Vivi is struggling with grief and guilt over the loss of her sister, while Eva is hiding the fact that she may be infected. As they travel together, they face zombie attacks, fear, memory, and the emotional consequences of survival. Dark, atmospheric, and visually distinctive, the book blends horror and action with themes of friendship, trauma, guilt, and resilience. It was shortlisted for the 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Olivia Vieweg is a German graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter born in Jena in 1987. She studied visual communication at Bauhaus University Weimar and is known for graphic novels that combine manga-influenced artwork with horror, fantasy, and emotionally complex characters. Her works include Ever After, Huck Finn, and Heavy Sea, My Dear. The original German version of Ever After began as her university work and was later adapted into a feature film. Vieweg lives and works in Weimar.
Fantasy / Mystery / Gothic Romance 13+
The Forgotten Book (2018 English translation) by Mechthild Gläser, translated from German by Romy Fursland, follows sixteen-year-old Emma, who returns to the prestigious boarding school run by her father and discovers an old journal hidden in an abandoned room. She soon realizes that anything she writes in the book can come true. What first seems exciting quickly becomes dangerous when Emma learns that someone else knows about the book and is determined to possess it. With the help of the mysterious Darcy de Winter, she begins uncovering secrets involving the journal, a missing twin, and the school’s past. Blending fantasy, mystery, boarding-school drama, gothic atmosphere, and Jane Austen-inspired romance, the novel explores power, responsibility, trust, and the consequences of getting exactly what you wish for. It was shortlisted for the 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Mechthild Gläser is a German author of young adult fantasy known for stories that combine literature, magic, mystery, and romance. Her novels often feature bookish protagonists, supernatural elements, and literary references. The Forgotten Book draws particularly on Pride and Prejudice, while remaining an original fantasy mystery rather than a direct retelling. Her work has reached an international audience through English translation, and The Forgotten Book was shortlisted for the 2021 GLLI Translated YA Book Prize.
Contemporary Thriller / Crime / Survival 14+
Run for Your Life (2018 English translation) by Silvana Gandolfi, translated from Italian by Lynne Sharon Schwartz, follows two boys whose lives become connected through violence and organized crime in Sicily. Santino witnesses the murder of his father and grandfather after they cross the Mafia and must decide whether to cooperate with the police or remain silent under the code of omertà. Meanwhile, twelve-year-old Lucio travels south from Livorno with his younger sister after receiving a mysterious message about their missing mother. As their stories converge, the novel becomes a tense survival thriller about courage, family, fear, and choosing what is right when the consequences are dangerous. Inspired by a real-life Mafia episode, it was shortlisted for the 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize and was also a 2019 Batchelder Honor Book.
Silvana Gandolfi is an Italian author of children’s and young adult literature and one of Italy’s most widely translated writers for younger readers. She is known for combining adventure and suspense with serious social and ethical questions. Her books include Run for Your Life and Aldabra, or The Tortoise Who Loved Shakespeare, and she has received the Andersen Prize, one of Italy’s major awards for children’s literature. She lives in Rome.
Historical Fantasy / Folklore / Adventure 12+
Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands (2013; English translation 2020) by Sonia Nimr, translated from Arabic by Marcia Lynx Qualey, follows Qamar, a fearless young Palestinian girl whose curiosity and love of stories lead her on an extraordinary journey across the Middle East and North Africa. After losing her parents, Qamar leaves home and travels through Gaza, Egypt, Morocco, and beyond, sometimes disguising herself as a boy and using her intelligence, healing skills, and storytelling ability to survive. Inspired by traditional Arab storytelling and the travel narratives of Ibn Battuta, the novel blends history, folklore, adventure, humour, and fantasy while exploring independence, courage, learning, gender expectations, and the search for belonging. It was shortlisted for the 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize and won the 2021 Palestine Book Awards Translation Award.
Sonia Nimr is a Palestinian author and storyteller whose work draws extensively on Palestinian and Arab folklore, oral storytelling, history, and contemporary life. She writes for children, young adults, and adults and is known for creating adventurous female protagonists who challenge traditional expectations. Her books include Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands, Thunderbird, Ghaddar the Ghoul and Other Palestinian Stories, and A Little Piece of Ground, co-written with Elizabeth Laird. Nimr has received major recognition for her writing, including the Etisalat Award, and her work has been translated into several languages.
Contemporary Fiction / Coming of Age / Neurodiversity 14+
Almond (2017; English translation 2020) by Sohn Won-pyung, translated from Korean by Sandy Joosun Lee, follows Yunjae, a teenager born with a condition that makes it difficult for him to recognize and express emotions. His mother and grandmother try to help him understand other people by teaching him emotional cues and social responses, but after a sudden tragedy, Yunjae is left largely on his own. His life begins to change when he meets Gon, a volatile and angry boy whose emotions seem almost overwhelming by comparison. Through their unlikely friendship, Yunjae begins to understand connection, empathy, grief, courage, and what it means to care for another person. Quiet, moving, and accessible, the novel explores identity, friendship, trauma, emotional difference, and the possibility of personal growth. It was named a 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor Book.
Sohn Won-pyung is a South Korean novelist, filmmaker, and screenwriter born in Seoul in 1979. She studied sociology and philosophy before training in film directing. Almond, her debut novel, became an international bestseller and has been translated into many languages. Her writing often explores identity, human relationships, empathy, isolation, and the ways people learn to understand one another.
Pre-Apocalyptic Thriller / Mystery 14+
The End (2018; English translation 2020) by Mats Strandberg, translated from Swedish by Judith Kiros, is set in Sweden during the final weeks before a comet is expected to destroy Earth. Teenager Simon is trying to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend Tilda, while Lucinda, who has stopped treatment for cancer, records her thoughts for a digital archive intended to preserve something of humanity after everyone is gone. When Tilda is suddenly found murdered, Simon becomes the main suspect and joins forces with Lucinda to discover what really happened. Combining mystery, romance, and end-of-the-world fiction, the novel asks what matters when time is running out and explores grief, friendship, love, fear, responsibility, and the different ways people respond when there is no future to plan for. The End was named a 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor Book.
Mats Strandberg is a Swedish novelist and journalist born in 1976. He writes for children, teenagers, and adults and is particularly known for combining horror, suspense, fantasy, and psychologically complex characters. His books include The End, Blood Cruise, and the internationally successful Engelsfors trilogy, co-written with Sara Bergmark Elfgren. The End was selected as a Kirkus Best Young Adult Book of 2020 and became a 2021 GLLI Translated YA Honor Book.
Realistic Fiction / Family / Disability 11+
The Blue Wings (2018; English translation 2020) by Jef Aerts, translated from Dutch by Laura Watkinson and illustrated by Martijn van der Linden, follows brothers Josh and Jadran as their family adjusts to a new blended household. Jadran is older but has an intellectual disability, and Josh often feels responsible for looking after him. When the brothers rescue an injured young crane, Jadran becomes determined to care for it and teach it to fly. What begins as an act of compassion leads to increasingly difficult choices for the family and forces Josh to confront the tension between loving his brother and carrying too much responsibility for him. Tender and emotionally complex, the novel explores sibling love, disability, family change, responsibility, loyalty, and letting go. It was shortlisted for the 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize, won a Zilveren Griffel, and was selected for the 2020 IBBY Honour List.
Jef Aerts is a Belgian author of children’s literature, novels, and poetry who grew up near Leuven. After studying literature and theatre, he worked as a dramaturge and journalist before focusing increasingly on children’s writing. His books are known for poetic language, emotional depth, and thoughtful portrayals of family relationships and difficult choices. The Blue Wings won a Zilveren Griffel and represented Flanders on the 2020 IBBY Honour List.
YA Horror / Thriller 14+
Fright Night (2018; English translation 2020) by Maren Stoffels, translated from Dutch by Laura Watkinson, follows Sofia and her friends as they take part in a staged overnight horror experience in a deserted forest. What is supposed to be a controlled night of scares quickly becomes much more dangerous as the group is forced to confront personal fears, secrets, and threats they did not expect. Fast-paced and suspenseful, the novel blends horror, psychological tension, friendship, and mystery, exploring fear, trust, trauma, and the consequences of pushing people beyond their limits. The English edition is published by Underlined for readers aged 12+, while Dutch library guidance places it toward the older end of YA.
Maren Stoffels is a Dutch author of young adult thrillers and horror fiction. She published her first book at seventeen and has since written numerous novels for teenage readers, often placing ordinary young people in high-pressure situations involving fear, secrets, and difficult choices. Her books translated into English include Fright Night, Escape Room, Room Service, No Escape, and Deep Water.
Young Adult Nonfiction / Migration / Refugee Stories 15+
The Other Side (2018; English translation 2019) by Juan Pablo Villalobos, translated from Spanish by Rosalind Harvey, brings together the real stories of Central American teenagers from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador who fled violence, poverty, extortion, and insecurity in hopes of reaching the United States. Based on interviews conducted with young migrants, the book follows different stages of their journeys: travelling through Mexico, riding freight trains, crossing rivers and deserts, being detained at the U.S. border, and trying to reunite with family members. Told largely in the teenagers’ own voices, the collection explores migration, displacement, violence, family separation, resilience, and hope. It was shortlisted for the 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize, was a 2019 Kirkus Prize finalist, and was named a Kirkus Best Book of the Year.
Juan Pablo Villalobos is a Mexican author and journalist born in Guadalajara in 1973. He writes fiction and nonfiction and is known for combining humour, social observation, and political themes. In The Other Side, Villalobos shifts the focus away from abstract debates about migration and toward the experiences and voices of young people themselves. The book was created from interviews with Central American teenagers and has received significant recognition for making contemporary migration issues accessible to young readers.
2020
Winner
Fantasy / Adventure 13+
eBook
The Beast Player (2018 English translation) by Nahoko Uehashi, translated from Japanese by Cathy Hirano, follows Elin, a young girl whose mother cares for dangerous serpent-like beasts called Toda. After tragedy separates Elin from her family, she grows up learning to understand the natural world and develops an extraordinary ability to communicate with powerful creatures known as Royal Beasts. As she becomes caught between political factions, military power, and traditions she increasingly questions, Elin must decide what kind of person she wants to become. The novel blends fantasy, adventure, politics, ecology, and coming-of-age while exploring compassion, responsibility, freedom, and the consequences of controlling nature. It won the 2020 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize and also received a Michael L. Printz Honor and Batchelder Honor.
Nahoko Uehashi is a Japanese fantasy author and cultural anthropologist born in Tokyo in 1962. Her academic background in cultural anthropology, including fieldwork with Indigenous communities in Australia, strongly influences the societies, environments, and cultures she creates in her fiction. Her major works include the Moribito series, The Beast Player, and The Deer King. Uehashi received the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing in 2014, one of the highest international honours in children’s literature.
Historical Fiction 13+
Maresi: Red Mantle (Finnish-Swedish original 2014; English translation 2016) by Maria Turtschaninoff is the first book in The Red Abbey Chronicles. The story follows Maresi, a young girl living in the Red Abbey, a peaceful refuge where women and girls can learn, study, and live freely. When a new arrival named Jai escapes a brutal and oppressive homeland, the abbey's safety is threatened. As danger approaches, Maresi must draw upon her courage, knowledge, and compassion to protect her community. The novel explores freedom, friendship, education, resilience, and the power of women supporting one another.
Maria Turtschaninoff is a Finnish author who writes in Swedish and is internationally acclaimed for her feminist fantasy novels. Her work combines rich world-building with themes of social justice, gender equality, environmental awareness, and personal growth. Maresi has won numerous literary awards and has been translated into many languages.
Honor
Historical Fiction 13+
Almost Autumn (originally published in Norwegian in 2020; English translation 2023) by Marianne Kaurin is a moving historical novel set in Nazi-occupied Norway during the Second World War. Ilse Stern, a Jewish teenager, dreams of ordinary things—friendship, first love, and the future—but her world begins to unravel as anti-Jewish persecution intensifies. When she is forced into hiding, Ilse must rely on the courage and compassion of those willing to risk everything to protect her. Inspired by true events, the novel explores themes of prejudice, friendship, courage, identity, resistance, and the enduring power of hope in the darkest of times.
Marianne Kaurin is a Norwegian author celebrated for her thoughtful historical fiction for young readers. Her novels explore empathy, identity, and social justice, often drawing on real events to illuminate overlooked moments in history. Through compelling characters and emotional storytelling, Kaurin encourages readers to reflect on the consequences of intolerance and the importance of standing up for others. Almost Autumn has received widespread acclaim for its sensitive portrayal of the Holocaust in Norway and its powerful message about humanity and resilience.
Graphic Novel / LGBTQ+ / Coming of Age 15+
Luisa: Now and Then (2016; English translation 2018) by Carole Maurel, translated from French by Nanette McGuinness and adapted by Mariko Tamaki, follows thirty-two-year-old Luisa, a food photographer in Paris whose life is disrupted when her fifteen-year-old self suddenly appears in the present. As the two versions of Luisa get to know one another, each is forced to confront choices, fears, and questions about identity, relationships, and sexuality. Blending time travel with emotional realism, the graphic novel explores self-acceptance, regret, coming out, love, and the distance between who we imagined we would become and who we actually are. Luisa: Now and Then was a 2020 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor Book and a 2019 Stonewall Book Award Honor Book.
Carole Maurel is a French graphic novelist, illustrator, and animator born in 1980. After studying animation, she worked in audiovisual production before moving into comics and graphic novels. Her work often explores identity, relationships, women’s experiences, sexuality, and social expectations. She wrote and illustrated Luisa: Now and Then, originally published in French as Luisa, ici et là, and has also worked on titles including Coming In, Nellie Bly, and Bobigny 1972.
Shortlist
Realistic Fiction 12+
The Casket of Time (2019 English translation; Icelandic original 2013) by Andri Snær Magnason follows Sigrún, a teenage girl whose family enters “TimeBoxes” to sleep through a global crisis, hoping to wake when the world is better. When Sigrún wakes too early, she finds society abandoned and nature taking over. Blending fantasy, science fiction, fairy tale, and environmental themes, the novel explores responsibility, climate crisis, greed, and courage.
Andri Snær Magnason is an Icelandic author from Reykjavík whose work includes children’s books, fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and environmental writing. The Casket of Time won major Icelandic children’s literature awards and is published in English.
Historical Fantasy / Romance / Adventure 12+
The Book of Pearl (2018 English edition) by Timothée de Fombelle, translated from French by Sarah Ardizzone and Sam Gordon, follows Joshua Pearl, a boy who has been exiled from a fairy-tale world and finds himself in Paris on the eve of World War II. Taken in by a family who run a marshmallow shop, Joshua gradually loses his memories of the magical world he came from and of the girl he loves. Determined not to forget, he begins collecting strange objects that might prove his past was real. Blending wartime historical fiction with fairy-tale fantasy, romance, mystery, and adventure, the novel explores memory, love, exile, storytelling, and the need to hold on to the parts of ourselves that others cannot see. It was shortlisted for the 2020 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Timothée de Fombelle is a French author and playwright known for imaginative novels that combine adventure, history, fantasy, and emotionally rich storytelling. His books include Toby Alone, Vango, A Prince Without a Kingdom, and The Book of Pearl. He lives in Paris, and his work has been translated into many languages. The Book of Pearl was also nominated for the Carnegie Medal and selected for the IBBY Honour List for translation.
Fantasy / Adventure / Romance 13+
A Winter’s Promise (2013; English translation 2018) by Christelle Dabos, translated from French by Hildegarde Serle, is the first book in The Mirror Visitor series. It follows Ophelia, a quiet young woman with two unusual gifts: she can read the past of objects she touches and travel through mirrors. When she is unexpectedly betrothed to Thorn, a powerful and enigmatic man from a distant floating world, Ophelia is forced to leave her family and travel to a dangerous court filled with political intrigue, hidden alliances, and secrets. As she tries to understand the motives behind her marriage and survive the hostility around her, she begins to discover that much more is at stake than her own future. The novel blends fantasy, mystery, romance, and court intrigue while exploring identity, power, loyalty, and independence.
Christelle Dabos is a French fantasy author best known for The Mirror Visitor series. Born in 1980 and raised in Cannes, she later moved to Belgium. Her writing is known for intricate world-building, unusual magical systems, political intrigue, and strong female protagonists. A Winter’s Promise launched her international career and became the first volume in a four-book series that has been translated into many languages.
Graphic Novel / War / Child Soldiers 14+
Tamba: Child Soldier (2019 English edition) by Marion Achard, illustrated by Yann Dégruel and translated from French by Montana Kane, follows Tamba Cisso, a boy kidnapped at the age of eight and forced to become a child soldier. Taken from his family and subjected to violence, intimidation, and indoctrination, Tamba is made to participate in atrocities before eventually finding an opportunity to escape. The story also follows his difficult journey toward recovery, including life in a refugee camp and his testimony before a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Powerful and unsettling without being gratuitous, the graphic novel explores war, trauma, survival, guilt, reconciliation, and the exploitation of children in armed conflict. It was shortlisted for the 2020 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Marion Achard is a French writer and circus performer, while Yann Dégruel is a French comics artist and illustrator. Achard has written numerous books for children and young adults, and Tamba: Child Soldier was her first graphic novel. Dégruel has illustrated and created many graphic works for younger readers, including adaptations of classic literature. Together, they use visual storytelling to bring attention to the experiences of children forced into armed conflict.
Historical Fiction / World War II / Resistance 13+
Winter in Wartime by Jan Terlouw, translated from Dutch, is set in the Netherlands during the final winter of World War II. Fifteen-year-old Michiel is living under German occupation when he becomes involved in the Dutch resistance after agreeing to help a wounded British pilot hiding from the Nazis. What begins as a small act of courage quickly grows more dangerous as Michiel is forced to keep secrets, make difficult choices, and decide whom he can trust. The novel explores resistance, betrayal, moral courage, responsibility, and the loss of innocence in wartime. It was shortlisted for the 2020 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Jan Terlouw is a Dutch author, physicist, and former politician best known for his novels for young readers. Born in 1931, he experienced the German occupation of the Netherlands as a child, and those memories influenced Winter in Wartime. His books often combine adventure with questions of responsibility, justice, and moral choice. Winter in Wartime became one of his best-known novels and was later adapted into a successful Dutch film.
2019
Winner
Graphic Novel / LGBTQ+ / Family 13+
eBook
My Brother’s Husband (English editions 2017–2018) by Gengoroh Tagame, translated from Japanese by Anne Ishii, follows Yaichi, a single father in Tokyo, whose life changes when Mike Flanagan arrives from Canada. Mike is the widower of Yaichi’s estranged twin brother, Ryoji. While Yaichi initially feels uncomfortable and unsure how to respond, his young daughter Kana immediately welcomes Mike into the family. Through their time together, Yaichi is forced to confront assumptions he has never questioned about sexuality, family, prejudice, and acceptance. Warm, thoughtful, and often moving, the two-volume manga explores grief, cultural attitudes, parenthood, and what it means to belong to a family. It won the inaugural 2019 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Gengoroh Tagame is a Japanese manga artist and author born in 1964 and based in Tokyo. He studied at Tama University of Art and became a full-time manga artist in the 1990s. My Brother’s Husband was his first all-ages work and brought his writing to a much broader international audience. The book received the Japan Media Arts Festival Award for Outstanding Work of Manga and the 2018 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia. Tagame’s work often explores LGBTQ+ identity, family, prejudice, acceptance, and relationships.
Honor
Contemporary Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Coming of Age 16+
La Bastarda (2016; English translation 2018) by Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel, follows Okomo, a teenage girl from Equatorial Guinea who lives under the strict expectations of her Fang family and community. Curious about the father she has never known, Okomo begins questioning the rules that govern her life and gradually forms connections with others who live outside accepted social norms, including her gay uncle and a group of young women considered “indecent” by the community. As Okomo falls in love with one of the girls, she is forced to confront expectations around gender, sexuality, family, and tradition. The novel explores identity, belonging, patriarchy, sexuality, and the tension between personal freedom and cultural expectations. It was shortlisted for the 2019 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Trifonia Melibea Obono is an Equatorial Guinean novelist, journalist, academic, and LGBTQ+ activist born in Evinayong, Equatorial Guinea, in 1982. She has studied political science, journalism, international development, gender, and equality, and has taught at the National University of Equatorial Guinea. Her writing frequently examines women’s lives, sexuality, gender inequality, and the legacies of colonialism in Equatorial Guinea. La Bastarda was the first novel by a woman from Equatorial Guinea to be translated into English, bringing an important Afro-Hispanic and LGBTQ+ perspective to international readers.
Contemporary Fiction / Humour / Coming of Age 13+
Piglettes (2017 English edition) by Clémentine Beauvais, translated from French by the author herself, follows Mireille, Astrid, and Hakima, three teenage girls who have been cruelly voted the “ugliest girls” at their school in an online contest. Rather than allowing the humiliation to define them, the girls decide to turn the experience into something of their own and set off on a bicycle journey to Paris. Funny, sharp, and uplifting, the novel explores cyberbullying, body image, friendship, racism, self-confidence, and the pressure placed on girls to meet narrow standards of beauty. Piglettes received a 2019 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor and won several major awards in France, including the Prix Sorcières.
Clémentine Beauvais is a French author, translator, and academic born in 1989 and based in the United Kingdom. She writes for children and young adults in both French and English and has taught English and education at the University of York. Her books often combine humour with thoughtful exploration of adolescence, identity, friendship, body image, and social expectations. Beauvais translated Piglettes into English herself, and the novel became a 2019 GLLI Translated YA Honor Book.
Contemporary Fiction / Music / Coming of Age 13+
Wonderful Feels Like This (2017 English edition) by Sara Lövestam, translated from Swedish by Laura A. Wideburg, follows Steffi, a teenage girl who feels isolated and bullied at school but finds comfort and freedom in jazz. Her life changes when she meets Alvar, an elderly former jazz musician living in a retirement home. Through their unlikely friendship, Steffi begins to imagine a different future for herself and gains the confidence to pursue music more seriously. Warm and moving, the novel explores bullying, loneliness, friendship across generations, identity, resilience, and the transformative power of music. It was selected as a 2019 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Honor Book.
Sara Lövestam is a Swedish author, linguist, and former teacher born in 1980 and based in Stockholm. She writes fiction for adults, children, and young adults, as well as books about language and grammar. Her work often explores identity, belonging, relationships, and people who feel outside conventional social expectations. Wonderful Feels Like This was her first novel translated into English and became a 2019 GLLI Translated YA Honor Book.
Shortlist
Biography / World War II / Historical Nonfiction 14+
Defying the Nazis: The Life of German Officer Wilm Hosenfeld by Hermann Vinke is a young readers’ biography of Wilm Hosenfeld, a German army officer who served in occupied Poland during World War II and became known for helping Jews and Poles escape Nazi persecution. Drawing on Hosenfeld’s diaries, letters, photographs, and historical records, the book follows his gradual rejection of Nazi ideology and his efforts to protect people targeted by the regime, including pianist Władysław Szpilman, whose story later became widely known through The Pianist. The book explores conscience, moral courage, complicity, resistance, and the difficult choices individuals face within oppressive systems. It was shortlisted for the 2019 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Hermann Vinke is a German journalist and nonfiction author known for writing about twentieth-century German history, National Socialism, resistance, and the experiences of young people under dictatorship. His books often use diaries, letters, photographs, and eyewitness accounts to make complex historical events accessible to younger readers. Through works such as Defying the Nazis, Vinke encourages readers to examine questions of responsibility, courage, and moral choice during periods of political oppression.
Historical Fiction / Family / Coming of Age 11+
Bronze and Sunflower (2005; English translation 2015/2017) by Cao Wenxuan, translated from Chinese by Helen Wang and illustrated by Meilo So, is set in rural China during the Cultural Revolution. Sunflower is a young girl who moves to the countryside with her artist father, who has been sent to a rural cadre school. After her father dies unexpectedly, she is taken in by a poor farming family whose son, Bronze, has not spoken since being traumatised by a fire. Bronze and Sunflower quickly become inseparable, and together they face poverty, natural disasters, hunger, family hardship, and loss. Gentle but emotionally powerful, the novel explores friendship, family, resilience, sacrifice, dignity, and the ability to find beauty and joy in difficult circumstances. It was shortlisted for the 2019 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize and received numerous international honours.
Cao Wenxuan is a Chinese author and professor of literature and one of China’s most prominent writers for children and young adults. Born in Jiangsu Province in 1954, he experienced rural life during the Cultural Revolution, experiences that have influenced much of his fiction. He teaches Chinese literature at Peking University and has written numerous acclaimed novels for younger readers. In 2016, Cao became the first Chinese writer to receive the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing, one of the world’s most prestigious honours in children’s literature. Bronze and Sunflower was his first full-length novel published in English.
Historical Fantasy / Family / World War II 11+
The Secret of the Blue Glass by Tomiko Inui, translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori, is a classic children’s fantasy set in wartime Japan. In the library of a house in suburban Tokyo lives a tiny family known as the Little People, who depend on the human family for a nightly glass of milk served in a special blue goblet. When World War II reaches Japan, shortages, evacuation, separation, and growing nationalism threaten both the human family and their miniature companions. Gentle, imaginative, and moving, the novel blends fantasy with historical reality while exploring family, loyalty, courage, kindness, and the effects of war on ordinary lives. It was shortlisted for the 2019 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Tomiko Inui was a Japanese author and editor born in Tokyo in 1924. She began working in publishing in 1950 while also writing books for children and became an important figure in Japanese children’s fantasy literature. Over her career, she received major Japanese literary awards and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1964. The Secret of the Blue Glass was the first of her books to be translated into English. She died in 2002.
Historical Fiction / Holocaust / Nazi Germany 14+
Max (2012; English translation 2016/2017) by Sarah Cohen-Scali, translated from French by Penny Hueston, is a disturbing historical novel set in Nazi Germany and centred on the real Lebensborn programme. Max is conceived as part of the Nazi attempt to create children who conform to its ideal of the “Aryan” race and is raised from birth within an ideology of obedience, racial superiority, and hatred. As he grows older, Max is exposed to the indoctrination and brutality of the regime, including the kidnapping and “Germanisation” of children from occupied countries. His worldview begins to change when he forms an unexpected relationship with Lukas, a boy whose identity challenges everything Max has been taught to believe. Chilling and provocative, the novel explores indoctrination, racism, identity, friendship, morality, and the consequences of dehumanising ideology. It was shortlisted for the 2019 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize.
Sarah Cohen-Scali is a French author born in Morocco who writes fiction for both young adults and adults. Her work often explores difficult historical and moral subjects. Max received numerous literary awards in France, including the 2013 Prix Sorcières, and brought her work to a wider international readership through Penny Hueston’s English translation. The novel is particularly noted for confronting the Nazi Lebensborn programme and the effects of ideological indoctrination from a highly unusual perspective.
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