São Paulo – The student Tainise Soares wants to bring Arabic children’s literature closer to Brazilians. She is currently pursuing a degree in Arabic Language at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and has completed the translations of four Arabic books into Portuguese. Now, Soares is working on another two, as part of a project titled Oriente Médio: <i>A Literatura Infantil Árabe e a Arte de Contar Histórias em Línguas Orientais </i>(Middle East: Arabic Children’s Literature and the Art of Storytelling in Eastern Languages). The books have not been published yet.
Soares is not of Arab ascent. She began studying the subject along with some friends who decided to sit language classes. In 2004 she went to Egypt, where she stayed for two years, learning the popular form of Arabic spoken in the country. Only in 2008 did she resume studies of Arabic, in the classical form (which is used in literature) and hasn’t stopped working with the language since. In the following year, she worked as a volunteer storyteller as a public school and took an interest in children’s literature.
“I started doing research on Arabic children’s literature. I realized that a pro-reading and pro-books movement was taking place in the Middle East, similar to the one in Brazil. So I built a dream of joining the two. From the beginning of my graduate studies, in 2011, I had that in mind,” the student says.
After holding a workshop telling Arab stories at the UFRJ, Soares started getting contacted by writers and publishers from the Middle East. “The (Lebanese) writer Rania Zaghir invited me to translate her books, and I embraced that project,” she says.
Zaghir’s first titles translated by Soares were <i>Quem tomou o meu sorvete?</i> (Who had my ice-cream?), about a girl who seeks out help to decide what is the best way to have her ice-cream; and <i>Sissi Malaket inventando moda</i> (Trendsetting Sissi Malaket), about a girl who enjoys dressing herself up with animals and plants (see illustration below) according to the season of the year. <i>Sissi </i>won the Assabil children’s literature award. Assabil is a Lebanese project founded in 1997 to foster the opening of public libraries.
Other award-winning works that possess Portuguese versions thanks to Soares’ toil include <i>Laila responda-me! </i>(Laila answer me!), by Syria’s Nadine Kaadan, about a hearing and speech-impaired princess, won the best book for children with special needs prize from Egypt’s Anna Lindh Foundation, and <i>Meu Ego e Eu: Um Fardo Pesado</i> (My Ego and Me: a Heavy Load), by Syria’s Samir Al Kadri. The book tells the story of Tariq, a boy who carries the weight of being brilliant, which makes him unhappy. The book won a prize this year at the Sharjah Literature Festival in the United Arab Emirates.
In June 2012, shortly after embarking on her translations project, Soares was invited to take part in a conference at the Lebanese University, in Beirut, about politics in contemporary children’s literature. “The theme of the presentation was ‘Building citizenship through children’s literature in Brazil.” I spoke of Monteiro Lobato, Ruth Rocha, Ana Maria Machado and Georgina Martins. I discussed how these writers approach citizenship in Brazil,” she explains.
Presently, Soares is working on the translation of books <i>Amanhã </i>(Tomorrow) and <i>Haltabis Haltabis & a balada de sementes de gergelim e pepinos </i> (Haltabis Haltabis & the Ballad of Ginger and Cucumber Seeds), by the abovementioned Nadine Kaadan & Rania Zaghir.
In order to bring her work to Brazilian children, Soares is looking for publishing companies interested in releasing her book translations. “Two publishing houses have contacted me, but we are still in the process (of negotiating). I haven’t stopped seeking out publishing companies, I am still looking.”
In the meantime, Soares keeps her work in mind. “I don’t plan to stop translating. I get lots of books from people (in the Arab world),” she says. To Soares, translating children’s books from Arabic into Portuguese is not merely an academic project; it is a “life project.” “My great desire is to see this literary exchange between the Arab world and Brazil’s publishing market. I really believe in that,” she says.
<b>*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum</b
