I recently received this email from Korea:
To Karen,
Hello, I’m a teacher at a Korean elementary school.
While reading ‘four feet, two sandles’ I wondered if there was a Ukrainian and Polish version of that book.
Please let me know when you know that.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
While Four Feet Two Sandals, about two refugee girls in a refugee camp in Pakistan, is published in several languages I had to respond that there are no translations of this book in Ukrainian or Polish.
How small our world from war torn Ukraine to Korea to Pakistan to the US. Something to think about.
This short message in return:
Hello
Thank you for your answer. I hope your book will be published in Ukraine and Poland.
Your book will help the people of Ukraine.
Sincerely,
Shortly after I read this from part of an article in Publishers Weekly:
Yakaboo is also one of the largest book distributors in Ukraine with some 250 employees in all. Laktionova described for PW the challenges the company has faced in trying to evacuate nearly a million books from its warehouse in Ukraine, a project that has been thwarted by fuel shortages and Russian bombardment of the city. “We know that we won’t be able to print any books for a long time – Kharkiv, which is destroyed, was the printing center of Ukraine – so we are trying to save as many books as possible.”
Both publishers PW spoke with in Bologna were visibly shaken by the events of the past few weeks. Each described their own harrowing, fortunate journeys out of Ukraine and their anger and sorrow at seeing towns destroyed and countrymen killed.
“We know, with the war happening, that publishing books may not be the highest priority, but focusing on our work, work that we love, gives us something else to think about, it reminds us of our purpose,” said Laktionova. “Perhaps it gives us something even more important – it gives us hope for the future.”