Children's literature can also have very young authors

[cbabe]

https://english.elpais.com/culture/2025-09-28/childrens-literature-can-also-have-very-young-authors.html

Children’s literature can also have very young authors

Publishers and non-profit groups in Spain, Portugal, Australia and Ireland share the same conviction: that the best writers of children’s books are the kids themselves

TOMMASO KOCH
Madrid - SEP 28, 2025 - 00:00 EDT

…

A staggering amount of children’s and young adult literature is published [each year]. And the fact that [the production process doesn’t involve] the children themselves is striking. The books are supposed to be talking about their future and the future of the world… and yet, they can’t have an opinion,” reflects Vicente Ferrer Azcoiti, editor of Media Vaca, a publisher based in Valencia, Spain. That’s why, for years now, he’s been asking them questions and helping them create their own literary works. He and a handful of editors from different countries share the same conviction: that the best authors of children’s books are children themselves.

This concept is championed by the Portuguese organization Fábrica de Histórias (“Factory of Stories”), the German Buchkinder, the Irish-led Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership, as well as its Australian sister organization. The locations, nuances and legal framework (publishing houses vs. non-profit organizations) may vary, but all subvert the usual chain of command: the children are in charge of the plot, illustrations and, sometimes, even the layout. The adults remain in the shadows, coordinating and contributing where they can.

Thanks to the workshops hosted by these non-profits and publishing houses, thousands of children in different corners of the planet have already fulfilled the dream that so many adults pursue throughout their lives: admiring their own book on a shelf. Some even have two.

Adrián E., Iona and Iriana released their debut novel when they were barely six years old. Together with a few other classmates, they have their signatures on a children’s book titled ¡Que vuelvan los estorninos! (translated from the Spanish as Let the Starlings Return!), published by Media Vaca. And now, at the age of eight, in another workshop, the kids are currently preparing their second publishing venture: a story written and drawn by 25 students from the Benimaclet Municipal School, in Valencia. Each creator is tasked with a small piece of the story.

… more …

[hermetic]

1. Interesting concept

I think I might have tried that, given the opportunity, when I was a kid.

[cbabe]

2. I wrote short stories as a kid. The nuns didn't like them but my mom kept them for years.