UK kids miss world’s best stories, warns Carnegie executive

Children's book experts are warning that young readers in the UK are missing out on the richness of stories from around the world, as the sector prepares to gather at a new festival dedicated to translation and multilingual storytelling at the University of Reading.

Jake Hope, Awards Executive at the Carnegies — the UK's longest-running children's book awards — is among those speaking at The Languages of Children's Books: Celebrating Translation and Linguistic Diversity festival on Thursday 17 September 2026.

Ahead of the event, he said: "Children are growing up in an increasingly global world, and the stories and information they encounter needs to reflect that."

The festival brings together publishers, translators, librarians, researchers and literacy advocates to explore how translation and multilingual storytelling can open up reading for young people, as part of the UK's National Year of Reading.

Varied and vibrant stories

More than 300 languages are spoken across the UK, and over 20% of school pupils use more than one language according to the schools census — yet this reality is barely reflected on children's bookshelves. Only a small percentage of the approximately 10,000 children’s books published in the UK each year are translations, despite the popularity of genres like Japanese manga.

Hope added "the UK has traditionally been far stronger at exporting children's books than importing them," a gap that leaves young readers with limited access to stories, ideas and perspectives from cultures beyond the English-speaking world.

Hope said the event "offers a chance for the whole sector to explore what needs to change, and how children can have access to the most varied and vibrant stories from around the world."

Festival organiser Dr Sophie Heywood, from the University of Reading's Department of Languages and Cultures, said: "The languages of children's books matter because they shape how young people see the world, and themselves within it.

"For a child who speaks Polish at home, or Urdu, or Welsh, seeing that language reflected on the page can be transformative. This festival is about recognising that the UK's children are already multilingual, and asking what it would mean for our books to catch up."

For researchers, teachers, publishers and advocates, the festival offers research-led panels, CPD-relevant sessions on multilingual literacy, and direct access to the translators and publishers shaping the future of diverse children's books.

Other speakers include Megan Farr (Welsh Books Council), children’s editors from Thames & Hudson and Lantana, Books for Keeps columnists Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O'Connor, and representatives from the Stephen Spender Trust, alongside academics and literacy advocates. Workshops will be led by award-winning translators Sarah Ardizzone and Anam Zafar.

The event is co-organised by the University of Reading's Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing and Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism, in partnership with children's literature organisation Outside in World, as part of World Kid Lit Month.