37.2294, Confs: Multimodal Creativity in Translated Children’s Books (Online)

Thu Jul 9 10:05:02 UTC 2026

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2294. Thu Jul 09 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.2294, Confs: Multimodal Creativity in Translated Children’s Books (Online)

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Date: 07-Jul-2026
From: Raluca-Nicoleta Balatchi [raluca.balatchi at usm.ro]
Subject: Multimodal Creativity in Translated Children’s Books

Multimodal Creativity in Translated Children’s Books

Date: 23-Oct-2026 - 24-Oct-2026
Location: Online

Linguistic Field(s): Translation

Submission Deadline: 30-Aug-2026

Multimodal Creativity in Translated Children’s Books
International Conference organised by “Ştefan cel Mare” University of
Suceava, Romania, in partnership with “Alecu Russo” University of
Bălţi, Republic of Moldova
Research Project: Creativity and Multimodality in Translated
Children’s Books in Romania and Moldova since the 1990s,
PN-IV-PCB-RO-MD-2024-0497 / 25.80013.0807.49ROMD
In the multimodal world of children’s books, images have never been
mere decoration; nor has translation ever been just about language.
Multimodality in illustrated books, picturebooks, graphic novels, or
digital editions are commonly described in terms of either “meaning
multiplication” (Bateman, 2014) or “resemiotization” (Mahasneh &
Abdelal, 2022). As noted by Riitta Oittinen (2000), the synergy of
text and image in children’s books is essential in highlighting the
particular aspects that need to be conveyed to children. It is all the
more interesting as the relationship between text and illustration in
children’s books is not always symmetrical (with the text and
illustrations offering the same information) (see Nikolajeva and
Scott, 2006); it may also be complementary (with text and image
filling each other’s gaps), enhancing (with either the text, or
illustrations, offering more information), counterpointing (text and
image contradicting each other to various extents), or sylleptic (text
and image putting forward two separate narratives).
On the other hand, if translation in general can be considered a
creative activity (see Kussmaul, in Hewson, 2016), then children’s
books, with their peculiar openness towards adaptation, make up a
corpus which lends itself more easily to (trans)creative rather than
normative solutions, for texts as well as for
illustrations. Researchers interested in the bond between the verbal
and the visual in translated children’s books are therefore kindly
invited to communicate on topics including (but not limited to) the
following:
 - Revisitations of Children’s Classics: Translation, Adaptation,
Illustration, and Cultural Memory (e.g., tercentenary of Gulliver’s
Travels, bicentenary of Little Muck, centenary of Winnie-the-Pooh)
 - Text-Image Orchestration in Translated Works for Children and Young
Adults
 - From Iconotextuality to Interculturality: Pictorial Representations
of Emotions (e.g. joy, sadness, fear, anger) or of One and the Same
Character across Various Target Cultures
 - Peritextual and Epitextual Visibility: Children’s Literature
Authors/ Translators/ Illustrators Highlighted inside and outside the
Book
 - Visual Learning and Foreign Language Teaching: The Educational
Impact of Translated/ Illustrated Children’s Books.
Bibliography:
Bateman, John A. (2014): Text and Image. A Critical Introduction to
the Verbal/Visual Divide. London & New York: Routledge.
Borodo, Michał; Diaz-Cintas, Jorge (2025): The Routledge Handbooks of
Translation and Young Audiences. Oxford: Routledge.
Graur, Evelina-Mezalina; Moroşan, Nicoleta-Loredana (eds.) (2022):
Communication multimodale et discours argumentatif/Multimodal
Communication and Argumentative Discourse (Anadiss 33(I)). Suceava:
“Ştefan cel Mare” University Press.
Hăisan, Daniela; Balaţchi, Raluca-Nicoleta (eds.) (2023): Iconotexte
et traduction (Atelier de Traduction 39-40). Suceava: “Ştefan cel
Mare” University Press.
Hewson, Lance (2016): “Creativity in Translator Training: Between the
Possible, the Improbable and the (Apparently) Impossible,” in
Linguaculture, vol. 7, no. 2, Dec. 2016, pp. 9–25,
doi:10.1515/lincu-2016-0010.
Kalezić-Radonjić, Svetlana (ed.) (2025): Folia Linguistica et
Litteraria: Journal of Language and Literary Studies no. 52 (Special
issue on *Magic of Sound: Children’s Literature and Music*),
Univerzitet Crne Gore.
Kessler, Matt (2022): “Multimodality,” in ELT Journal, Volume 76,
Issue 4, October 2022, pp. 551–554,
[https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccac028](https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccac028).
Mahasneh, Anjad A.; Abdelal, Rahaf (2022): “Resemiotization of
Illustrations in Children’s Picture Books Between English and Arabic,”
in Sage Open,
[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440221093364](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440221093364)
(accessed August 2023).
Martinez Mateo, Roberto (2015): “Contrastive Multimodal Analysis of
Two Spanish Translations of a Picture Book,” in Procedia – Social and
Behavioral Sciences no. 212, pp. 230–236.
Nikolajeva, Maria; Scott, Carole (2006): How Picturebooks Work. New
York & Oxon: Routledge.
Oittinen, Riitta (2000): Translating for Children. New York:
Routledge.
Regattin, Fabio (2023): “Traducteurs de livres illustrés :
investigateurs sémiotiques ou trompeurs sémiotiques ?,” in Atelier de
Traduction no. 39–40, pp. 15–28.
Van Coillie, Jan; McMartin, Jack (2020): Children’s Literature in
Translation: Texts and Contexts. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Xu, Derong; Jiang, Jianli (2014): “On the Framework of Translation
Criticism of Children’s Literature,” in Foreign Languages Research, 2,
pp. 66–71.
Keynote Speakers:
Svetlana Kalezić-Radonjić, University of Montenegro
Fabio Regattin, University of Udine
Derong Xu, Ocean University of China
Organising Committee:
“Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Romania
“Alecu Russo” State University of Bălţi, Republic of Moldova
Daniela Hăisan Anjela Coşciug
Raluca-Nicoleta Balaţchi Ecaterina Foghel
Daniela-Maria Marţole Daniela Preaşcă
Anton Zazuleac Tatiana Bogdanici
Scientific Committee:
Raluca-Nicoleta Balaţchi, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava,
Romania
Nikola Bjelić, University of Niš, Republic of Serbia
Muguraş Constantinescu, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava,
Romania
Anjela Coşciug, “Alecu Russo” State University of Bălţi, Republic of
Moldova
Rodica-Ioana Dimitriu, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi,
Romania
Ecaterina Foghel, “Alecu Russo” State University of Bălţi, Republic of
Moldova
Olga Gancevici, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Romania
Teodora Ghivirigă, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, Romania
Evelina-Mezalina Graur, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava,
Romania
Daniela Hăisan, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Romania
Simona-Aida Manolache, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava,
Romania
Daniela-Maria Marţole, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava,
Romania
Gina Măciucă, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Romania
Nicoleta-Loredana Moroşan, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava,
Romania
Daniela Petroşel, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Romania
Ioana-Crina Prodan, “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Romania
Daria Protopopescu, University of Bucharest, Romania
Lamiae Slaoui, Fez Regional Center of Education and Training, Kingdom
of Morocco
Sara Vecchiato, University of Udine, Italy
Submission Guidelines:
Proposal Deadline: August 30, 2026
Notification of Acceptance: September 10, 2026
The proposal should contain:
 - author’s/ authors’ name and affiliation
 - title of the presentation
 - a 300-word abstract and 5 keywords (in the language of the
presentation)
Please submit your proposal to the address:
creatmodconference at gmail.com
The languages of the presentations are English and French, but the
studies may focus on any pair of languages.
Conference Proceedings will be considered for publication in a
BDI-indexed journal and/or an edited volume issued by an academic
press.
Participation and publication are free of charge.

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