Translating for Read-Aloud: Performativity and Rhythm in Picture Books

Picture books don’t just tell stories — they perform them. Explore how to balance style, design, illustrations, and read-aloud impact to make every element work together.

This advanced webinar takes a close look at the challenges of translating picture books. It treats translation as both a creative and performance-driven process that shapes how young readers experience language and culture.

You will tackle one of the biggest issues when translating for children and young adults: balancing formal elements like rhyme, meter, and style with the need for a text that works naturally when read aloud. This webinar will examine how words interact with illustrations, layout, and typography, and how those elements affect translation choices. Drawing on the work of Riitta Oittinen and Henri Meschonnic, it will also explore rhythm as more than meter or cadence, focusing on how rhythm shapes meaning, tone, and reader engagement.

Strengthen your decision-making skills by evaluating when close adherence to form helps or hurts the reading experience. You will leave with practical tools to justify your choices to editors and publishers and to approach picture book translation as work that carries real cultural impact.

You will learn how to:

1. Make clear decisions about when to keep rhyme and meter and when to adapt them so your translation sounds natural and works well aloud.
2. Look at the entire picture book before finalizing your draft, taking into account the text, illustrations, layout, and lettering as parts of a whole.
3. Shape rhythm intentionally to support meaning and tone, and justify your choices based on how they affect the reader’s experience.
4. Communicate complex translation decisions clearly to editors and publishers, demonstrate your expertise, and position yourself for higher-level projects for children and young adults.

About the Presenter

Laura Estefanía is a literary translator, editor, and educator specializing in children’s literature. She holds advanced degrees in literature and literary translation from the University of Buenos Aires and a master’s degree in children’s literature. Her career gives her a full, 360-degree view of the publishing world. She has worked as a translator for The Walt Disney Company and as an editor for Macmillan. She currently leads the Capicúa children’s imprint at V&R Editoras. Her work focuses on the real-world challenges of translating books meant to be read aloud, especially the balance between style, rhythm, and performance. She teaches literary translation, publishing, and script translation at several institutions, helping professionals make strong, defensible choices that work on the page and out loud.