Lost and Found, in Translation with Frank Wynne

If you were ever an enthusiastic reader of “Calvin and Hobbes,” “Peanuts,” “Blondie,” “Doonesbury,” or the “Boondocks,” you have a treat coming your way: “Mafalda,” a six-year-old comic book character created by the artist Quino in Argentina, is now available in English in a dazzling translation by Frank Wynne. Mafalda is a precocious kid—Frank describes her as “six going on sixty”—who observes the world around her with fresh eyes, and then asks the kind of queer questions that the grown-ups in her life can’t or won’t answer. Mafalda’s concerns focus on humanity and world peace, and her innocence shines a bright light on the conflict between what adults claim to value, and how they actually live. Think of her as a socialist “Nancy.”  We’re joined from London by Frank Wynne, a former Chair of the Judging Panel of the International Booker Prize and the award-winning author, translator, and editor of two major anthologies, Found in Translation: 100 of the finest stories every translated, and QUEER: LGBTQ Writing from Ancient Times to Yesterday.