A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large by Sofia Chanfreau and Amanda Chanfreau (ill.) has been sold to Croatia and Latvia, where it will be published by Ibis Grafika and Janis Roze respectively. This marks 16 language territories for the title.
A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large by Sofia Chanfreau and Amanda Chanfreau (ill.) has been sold to Croatia and Latvia.
In Croatia, the book will be published by Ibis Grafika. Ibis grafika is an independent publishing company established in 1994 in Zagreb, Croatia. The goal of Ibis has always been to bring high quality literature to Croatian readers, and they have recently been trying to introduce more and more translated literature, especially from languages which have not yet been translated into Croatian. Ibis Grafika are best known for their picture book program, for which they have received many awards and recognitions (IBBY Honour list, White Raven’s Catalogue, among others). Ibis publishes around 30 titles a year, and in addition to the publishing activity, Ibis is also very active in organising and implementing reading encouragement activities, and work with schools to promote reading.
In Latvia, the book will be published by Janis Roze, the Latvian home of, among others, Anja Portin’s Radio Popov and Iida Turpeinen‘s Beasts of the Sea. Janis Roze is a Latvian publisher named after Professor Emeritus Janis Roze, and it is literary publishing house spanning from children’s literature to crime fiction for adults and poetry.
A Giraffe’s Heart is Unbelievably Large by Sofia & Amanda Chanfreau is a multi-awarded international best-seller for children: it won the Finlandia Prize in 2022, and was nominated for the Runeberg Prize the same year.
In A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large we follow Vega, who is ten years old and lives with her father on Giraffe Island. Life goes along in its usual way, which in Vega’s case means anything but usual. She sees things no one else does, like imaginary animals that keep her company. The bathroom is home to a gray bear whose fur is lathered with shampoo, and on the way to school she encounters Atle the asphalt beaver and the crosswalk zebra Zacharias. Vega has never met her mother, and when she asks her father and her grandfather Hektor about her mother, they speak in mysteries. When Vega’s father gets a not-so-nice girlfriend and Vega gets an unexpected pen pal, she decides to set out on an adventure to find out more about her mother.
Colored by magical realism, A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large is a tale of longing to be part of a family, to find one’s place in the world, and to be loved as one is. It’s a superb read for a child alone or for parents and children together.
Warmest congratulations to the authors and the publishers!