Home » Author Interviews » Russian censors target children's books that break the mould

Russian censors target children's books that break the mould

Written By Unknown on Sunday, January 3, 2016 | 4:14 AM

Publishing a children’s book in Russia is not a straightforward matter, as Anna Starobinets found when her detective stories set among woodland animals were deemed to be far too beastly for children

I wrote my first children’s book, The Land of Good Girls, in 2009 for my then five-year-old daughter Sasha for quite a banal reason: I’d already read to her everything that was worth reading in Russian for children her age. We had read older literature and contemporary authors as well but new titles from Russian authors came out far too rarely to satisfy my daughter’s thirst for reading (she could consume upwards of five books a day!). So, we mostly read translated literature, from Andersen and Tove Jansson to Daniel Pennac and JK Rowling.