Promoting Vietnamese children's books in Germany

Delegation of Kim Dong Publishing House working at the International Youth Library. (Photo: Provided by the Publishing House)

Within the framework of activities at the Frankfurt International Book Fair 2025, Kim Dong Publishing House visited and worked with the Munich International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich (Germany). This is one of the activities of Kim Dong Publishing House to contribute to promoting Vietnamese books to the world .

With a focus on promoting the beauty of Vietnamese culture, people, landscapes, etc. to the world, this year Kim Dong Publishing House brings to Germany special cultural publications, highly appreciated by many readers, including two outstanding new publications: "Yersin - Whale Song" and "Dad's Treasure". These are publications that Kim Dong Publishing House has invested in both content and art, and at the same time, they both have cultural elements imbued with identity and are contemporary.

Kim Dong Publishing House presents the Munich International Youth Library with its latest publications to be introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2025.

Over the years, Kim Dong Publishing House has also been constantly looking for partners to bring Vietnamese books to the world. The book topics of Kim Dong Publishing House that are copyrighted to the world often have global themes but still have strong Vietnamese cultural elements, such as "Chang is wild", "My dad is a runner", "Put the phone down"...

Working with representatives of Kim Dong Publishing House at the Munich International Youth Library were Dr. Christiane Raabe, Library Director, and Ms. Lucia Obi, in charge of the Asian book section.

During the meeting, the Library representative expressed their joy at welcoming the delegation from Kim Dong Publishing House - a unit that has had 4 book titles selected for The White Ravens list over the years, such as "The New Year of the Little Cat" (2019), "The Strangest Tales of Linh Nam" (2021), "The Lands of Memories - Vietnamese Landscapes in Literature" (2023), and "My Father is a Runner" (2024).

Delegation of Kim Dong Publishing House visited the Library.

The White Ravens is the most notable children's literature list of the year. Every year, thousands of books from dozens of countries are nominated for the list, and experts evaluate and select based on the criteria of theme, literary quality, beautiful images, new and creative approaches. The fact that Kim Dong Publishing House's publications have been included in this list four times is proof of the quality as well as the orientation in promoting the beauty of Vietnamese culture and people to the world.

Representatives of the Munich International Youth Library highly appreciated the quality of writing and illustrations by Vietnamese authors and artists, especially artist Ta Huy Long, authors Hoai Anh and Bui Phuong Tam. Dr. Christiane Raabe also expressed her interest in the Vietnamese publishing industry.

The Munich International Youth Library is one of the world's largest collections and research centers for children's books, founded in 1949 with some 4,000 titles.

Over seven decades of development, the library currently holds more than 800,000 books in more than 150 languages, along with many valuable documents on the history and reading culture of children around the world. This is also the unit that organizes and publishes the list of "The White Ravens" - an annual list introducing the world's best children's books, highly appreciated by international experts for their content and art.

Ms. Vu Thi Quynh Lien, Deputy Director and Editor-in-Chief of Kim Dong Publishing House, shared: “Currently, Vietnam has more than 50 publishing houses and nearly 300 private distributors, which are gradually integrating strongly into the international book market.” Through the Frankfurt Book Fair, Vietnam hopes to promote cooperation in co-publishing, translation, copyright exchange, as well as expand investment in digital publishing, e-books, audiobooks and international copyright platforms - so that Vietnamese stories can reach readers everywhere faster and more conveniently, so that Vietnam can become a creative, dynamic and trustworthy partner in the global publishing community.

Ms. Vu Thi Quynh Lien also said that this year, Kim Dong Publishing House chose to introduce at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2025 books that converge meaningful and attractive elements, are beautifully illustrated, honor Vietnamese culture, and contain creative elements of a global nature.

Representatives of the Munich International Youth Library commented that the publishing industry in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, is developing dynamically and sustainably, and expressed their impression with the prominent presence of the Philippines - Guest of Honor at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair.

On this occasion, the Kim Dong Publishing House delegation presented the Munich International Youth Library with a number of outstanding titles, contributing to enriching the Library's Vietnamese book collection, including two books introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair: "Yersin - The Whale's Song" and "Dad's Treasure". The Library representatives were very happy to receive the gifts from Vietnam and expressed their desire to continue expanding cooperation in the future.

At the end of the meeting, Ms. Lucia Obi, who always has a lot of affection for Vietnam and strives to promote Vietnamese books in Europe, took the delegation to visit the thematic exhibitions taking place at the Library, and introduced more international book collections - a diverse and inspiring reading culture space for children around the world.

This is a meaningful activity of Kim Dong Publishing House in its journey of efforts to bring publications rich in Vietnamese cultural identity around the world, opening the door to the world of Kim Dong children's books.

HA CHI

Source: https://nhandan.vn/quang-ba-sach-thieu-nhi-viet-nam-tai-duc-post919017.html