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17.01.2024

“Van Dog” by Gosia Herba and Mikołaj Pasiński published in Italy

A translation of the book 'Van Dog' by Mikołaj Pasiński with illustrations by Gosia Herba has been published in Italy. The publication of the book translated by Gabriela Rogowska was supported by the Book Institute as part of the ©POLAND Translation Programme.

The book was published by the Padua-based BeccoGiallo publishing house, which specialises in picture books, children's literature, and comics.

Van Dog is the story of the dog painter Van Dog, written by Pasiński and illustrated by Herba. The artist decides to head outdoors early in the morning, to a meadow, and when he gets there, it turns out that all its inhabitants are living their lives and going about their business.... Will this prevent Van Dog from creating his masterpiece? Or quite the opposite? Pasiński and Herba's book is aimed at pre-schoolers and reading it with parents can be a great opportunity for a child to make their first attempts at independent reading.

Gosia Herba is an illustrator with many years of experience, whose work includes press illustrations, posters, album covers, and book illustrations. She has worked with 'La Nacion', 'The Washington Post', and Penguin Random House, among others. She has illustrated a number of children's books, in addition to those created in duo with Pasiński, such as Raz, dwa, trzy, zaśnij ty! (“One, Two, Three, Go to Sleep!”) with Dorota Kassjanowicz and Kolumb. Całkiem inna historia (“Columbus. A Completely Different Story”) with Artur Domosławski.

Mikołaj Pasiński is a graphic designer, collage artist, and children's book author who has so far published four titles – alongside Van Dog, there are also Balonowa 5 (“5 Balloon Street”), Fertility, and Słoń na księżycu (“Elephant on the Moon”), all in collaboration with Gosia Herba.

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The ©Poland Translation Programme is one of the Book Institute's flagship programmes. Its aim is to promote Polish literature around the world by providing financial support for the publication of Polish books in translation into foreign languages. Foreign publishers may use the funding grant to finance part of the work's publication costs, including, among other things, the translation of the work from Polish into another language, the purchase of copyright licences, and the printing of the book. In 2023 alone, we have subsidised 229 foreign editions of Polish books to be published by publishing houses from 46 countries, to which we have allocated almost PLN 5 million. In all editions of the programme, we have already subsidised a total of more than 3,000 translations of Polish books into foreign languages.