Laura Watkinson

This feast of Middle Eastern folklore from an award-winning Iraqi storyteller is paired with vibrant cut-paper art. The twenty fables and folktales in this illustrated storybook have taken a long journey. Many have roots that stretch across Europe, Asia, and Africa, but when award-winning writer and gatherer of tales Rodaan Al Galidi learned them in his homeland of Iraq, it was as Arabic folktales and as part of the Arabic storytelling tradition. When he migrated to the Netherlands, he shaped twenty of those tales into his debut book for children, which was translated to English by Laura Watkinson. Filled with wisdom about love and acceptance, and warnings against folly, these elegantly translated stories of donkeys and roosters, kings, sheikhs, and paupers are exquisitely illustrated by cut-paper artist Geertje Aalders. Beautifully packaged, Arabic Folktales is a rich and varied introduction to the world of Middle Eastern folklore.

What if the darkest curse was your greatest power? Born during the blood moon and cursed with the dangerous ability to manipulate other people's souls, Priya has to hide her power or face death. But when Priya wins a place to attend the country's elite military academy in Kuwatta, her curse is revealed to be a gift and everything changes. With a centuries old war still raging and strange dangers lurking, Priya must decide how much she is willing to sacrifice for her people and her country. An electrifying and gripping story of belonging and survival. "But Awaran was all she knew. The only land whose earth she had trodden, whose air she had breathed and whose water she had tasted. Awaran was the land that had given her life, the land she fought for. She knew nothing else. Why, then, did she still feel like a traveller without a destination?"

A fascinating guide to Van Gogh's itinerant life, with vibrant images and stories about the many places he lived and worked. Vincent van Gogh travelled widely through various countries in Europe - on foot, by boat and, above all, by train. He wrote countless letters to his family as he went, and used the world around him as the subject for hundreds of drawings and paintings. And in his day, that world looked very different from ours. Brimming with colourful pictures, historic photographs, letters, detailed maps and other documents, this book enables readers to join Vincent on his journeys from Z to A: from Zundert in the southern Netherlands (where he was born), through London and Paris, to Auvers-sur-Oise in France (where he died). Offering a detailed introduction to Vincent's personal quest and the contemporary world of his time, this book will immerse young readers in the history of the 19th century and the turbulent life of Vincent van Gogh, the artist and man.

With this treasury of his time spent in Venice over a period of fifty-five years, Nooteboom makes himself the indispensable companion for all lovers of "the sailing, amphibious city", and for every new visitor. Because he is a master storyteller with an inexhaustible curiosity, and always with a suitcase of books (to which new discoveries are added), he brings vividly and poetically to life not only the tumultuous history of the Republic but along the way its doges, its villains, its heroes, its magnificent painters, its architects, its scholars, its skies, its canals and piazzas and alleyways, and on his expeditions its "bronze voices of time". Those who know and love this city and its literature will recognise Nooteboom - in Laura Watkinson's fine translation - as the dazzling heir and companion to Montaigne, Thomas Mann, Rilke, Ruskin, Proust, Brodsky, and Donna Leon. His homage to Venice is a generous introduction, learned and enchanting, and worthy of its magnificent subject. Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson

A gripping sea adventure featuring a lost father and a cursed ship. When Ravian's father doesn't return home from sea for his son's birthday, Ravian is certain he must be in danger. Hearing tales of a cursed ship that captures fishermen, Ravian goes in search of his father accompanied by his only friend Marvin the seagull. Before long, the pair find themselves trapped on the ship with a kindly boy and a bad-tempered pirate for company. The ensuing voyage is beset with battles with giant squid and fierce storms, and Ravian despairs of ever finding his father. Featuring stunning illustrations by acclaimed illustrator Karl James Mountford. A wonderful story of friendship and overcoming fears, translated from Dutch by Laura Watkinson, Carnegie-Medal 2020 short-listed translator of Lampie by Annet Schaap.

When Tiuri answers a desperate call for help, he finds himself on a perilous mission that could cost him his life. He must deliver a secret letter to the King who lives across the Great Mountains - a letter upon which the future of the entire realm depends. It means abandoning his home, breaking all the rules and leaving everything behind - even the knighthood he has dreamed of for so long. The fate of a kingdom depends on just one person... He must trust no one. He must keep his true identity secret. Above all, he must never reveal what is in the letter.