Program Description
Event Details
The San Diego Public Library is proud to present this very special Bilingual Storytime featuring Translators Alicia López and Robert Croll. Cuddle up with a blanket and escape into the whimsical dream world of Sleepy Stories beautifully read by Ms. Lopez. Mr. Croll takes us on an adventure with the greatest ant storyteller of all time, Juan Hormiga.
Storytime starts at 10am on Friday, July 9th on the SDPL Virtual Hub Facebook Group. No registration required. See you there!
Sleepy Stories By Mario Levrero Illustrated by Diego Bianki Translated from the Spanish by Alicia López
Each story told in Sleepy Stories drifts deeper into a beguiling dream world, telling of an elastic gentleman who stretches his body across town to effortlessly slip into bed, or of another sleepy young man who curls inside an upside-down umbrella to take a snooze. In Diego Bianki’s magical universe, the waking world is made small (a French press and a red top hat shrink before our eyes), while the dream world Levrero and his son Nicolás build together (a land of sly frogs, giant apes, and smiling squids) waltzes across the page. On the last of Bianki’s whimsical illustrations, Nicolás holds the book over his father’s nodding head and says, “Another.” This is a book to giggle with and curl up with, to take on every sleepy adventure.
Alicia López is a translator and sculptor. She grew up in San José, Costa Rica and currently lives in California.
Juan Hormiga By Gustavo Roldán Translated from the Spanish by Robert Croll
Juan Hormiga, the greatest storyteller of his entire anthill, loves to recount his fearless grandfather’s adventures. When Juan and his fellow ants gather around for story time, he hypnotizes all with tales of his grandfather’s many exploits – including his escape from an eagle’s talons and the time he leapt from a tree with just a leaf for a parachute. When he’s through telling these tales, Juan loves to cozy up for a nice long nap. He’s such a serious napper that he takes up to ten siestas every day! Though well loved by his ant friends, Juan decides telling tales and sleeping aren’t quite enough for him – it’s time to set off on his own adventure. With whimsical, irresistible illustrations, Juan Hormiga affirms the joys of sharing stories, and of creating your own out in the world.
Robert Croll is a writer, translator, musician, and artist originally from Asheville, North Carolina. He first came to translation during his undergraduate studies at Amherst College, where he focused particularly on the short fiction of Julio Cortázar and contemporary Latin American literature. He has worked on texts by such authors as Ricardo Piglia, Hebe Uhart, Julio Cortázar, Gustavo Roldán, Javier Sinay, and Juan Carlos Onetti.