War Zones, Conflict, and Violence in Translated Children's Literature

War and violence have been present in children’s literature for a long time. However, violent conflict in books for children and young adults has been receiving interest in academic research mainly concentrating on the world wars. For example, focus on representation of war trauma has resulted in an extensive study of the representation of the Holocaust in literature for children and young adults. Although children’s books on war and violence have been some of the most circulated in translation, there is still a lack of extensive research about how and why violence gets translated for young readers. This chapter presents approaches to translating traumatic war experiences that apply to children’s literature focusing specifically on translating children’s voices and refugee narratives of violence and trauma. This will be done through an inquiry into translation of children’s and young adults literature by adult agents, collaborative translation, and self-translations. The chapter will also reflect on the visual representation of war in translation.