The Emma Press publishes Poems The Wind Blew In, winner of the English PEN Writers in Translation Award
Birmingham publisher The Emma Press has published Poems The Wind Blew In – the latest addition to their flagship children’s poetry book list.
Poems The Wind Blew In, by Karmelo C. Iribarren, was first published as Versos que el viento arrastra in Spain in 2010, by Ediciones El Jinete Azul. It has been translated into English for The Emma Press by Lawrence Schimel, with newly-commissioned illustrations for this edition by Riya Chowdhury.
The publication was awarded a grant from English PEN as part of their ‘PEN Translates’ programme, to support the translation costs. The purpose of this programme is to encourage UK publishers to acquire more books from other languages as well as to help UK publishers to meet the costs of translating new works into English.
Poems The Wind Blew In is also part of the Emma Press’s project to learn more about children’s publishing and building a diverse list, which is supported by public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
The poems in Poems The Wind Blew In are short and charming, revealing the magic in small, everyday things. A plastic bag dreams of becoming a cloud, raindrops go on holiday to the sea, and hats fill up with thoughts. The book builds an immersive, tender world and encourages the reader to look at the world around them with wonder and delight. It includes extra materials at the back of the book, including a ‘Learn some Spanish’ wordlist and poem-writing prompts.
About the author, translator and illustrator:
Karmelo C. Iribarren is a best-selling poet who has published twelve collections of poetry, as well as various volumes of his selected or complete poems. In prose, he has published Diario de K, which alternates aphorisms, prose poetry and picturesque observations about his city. Poems The Wind Blew In is his first (and so far only) collection of poems for younger readers.
Lawrence Schimel is an American writer who has lived in Madrid since 1999. Schimel writes in both Spanish and English and has published over 100 titles as author or anthologist, which includes many children’s books. His writing has been translated into over thirty languages, including Icelandic, Maltese, Estonian, and Turkish. In addition to his own writing, he works as a Spanish-English literary translator.
Riya Chowdhury is an illustrator based in Birmingham, England. She uses numerous methods to create her artwork and is always experimenting with new techniques. Following the completion of her studies of Visual Communication at Birmingham City University, Riya has worked with Otter-Barry Books, The Emma Press and Birmingham City University’s Creative Writing Committee.
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-912915-31-6
Publication Date: 21st November 2019
Page Count: 80
RRP: £8.99
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