Incomplete maps: towards a sociology of children’s literature in English translation

Despite the embrace of sociological methods by translation studies scholars working on literature for adults since the 1990s, the sociology of both children’s publishing and translation for children have lagged behind. This paper begins with an overview of existing ‘maps’ of the children’s literature translation field, noting some of the methodological issues present, with particular focus on the problematic use of translation statistics. Using a case study of a small UK publishing house which has published a number of award-winning translations for children since 2015, this paper then suggests potential avenues for developing a sociology of children’s literature translation.