Elsewhere Editions Publisher Preview (Spring & Fall 2026)

I’m not allowed to have favorites when it comes to small publishers. Obviously. Each one is special and delightful in their very own special way. That said, I think it would be fair to say that I do have my favorites amongst a select few, yes? And Elsewhere Editions, the international imprint of Archipelago, is a company that consistently brings me joy. This upcoming season they’ve a mere four books for your consideration, but each and every last one of them is entirely unlike anything you’ve ever encountered before. Behold and bemuse:

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Lost In Peach Blossom Paradise by Xiong Liang, translated from Chinese by Chloe Garcia Roberts

ISBN: ‎ 978-1962770491

Publication Date: May 12, 2026

This would be the first book in the Little Yu & the Treelings series, though it pairs nicely with last year’s picture book, Take a Walk With the Wind. This title, however, is for slightly older readers. It starts with a classic Chinese myth. We meet a forbidden forest, and then we fast forward to the present day. A big city girl is visiting her grandparents’ village, and in the opening pages it’s near the end of summer as she wanders towards a path of floating petals. Naturally, she’s the only one who can see the petals, which she follows to the forest’s mysterious edge. All this is rendered with art that is painted upon silk. Upon entering the forest, Little Yu sees a flash of a small being, and we learn that it’s a Treeling. Treelings, if you read the previous book, are small elflike forest creatures. She chases after this creature and as a result, must face the trials of the seven guardians of the forest. Told in roughly 90 pages altogether, each trial references specifics of Chinese folklore and philosophical beliefs. Here’s a particularly cool detail as well: Ruth Chan AND Gracie Zhang both gave this book blurbs! This is the first of six books in this series, so be on the lookout for more soon!

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Mafalda 2 by Quino, translated by Frank Wynne

ISBN: 9781962770453

Publication Date: October 20, 2026

You’re seeing it first here, folks! This beautiful purple cover is the advent of a brand new collection of Mafalda comics, newly translated into English by Frank Wynne. Are you excited? This is the second of five. The books move chronologically through time, and if you were lucky enough to see the first Mafalda then this will not disappoint in the least. Our diminutive heroine is still yearning for democracy and hating soup. The big overarching storyline in this collection is Mafalda’s first trip to the beach with her family, as well as her first day of school (you can imagine how that goes). Elsewhere Editions has hired the same translator (whew!) and continued same series design look, just with a different color cover.

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The River by Claude Ponti, translated by Margot Kerlidou and Alyson Waters

ISBN: 978-1962770477

Publication Date: March 24, 2026

A new Ponti is always cause for celebration. His latest is an incredible and inventive exploration of a natural world that dares to explore gender in an exhilarating way. In this story, two communities live on a single river. The grandparents have a lot of sway in these communities, and when they die they get to say what the next grandchild’s gender will be, since they essentially get to be reborn in those bodies. In one case, a grandmother wants to come back as a boy, but the child that is born is assigned female at birth, so the community agrees to raise the child as a boy. Likewise, in a similar case a grandfather wants to come back as a girl and the opposite thing happens. There’s this whole condition of the world where everyone can explore gender as much as they want, yet it’s just one small element in the overall world building. Just as much is said about hunting fur and herbs and about handmade flying machines and an underground library. The book isn’t didactic at all in how it talks about how the kids can make their own way in the world. There are even characters that don’t select a gender at all. Eventually, and because we live in 2026, there is a threat posed by this Trumpian monster who wants all the desserts. He wants to eat all the parents of the creatures in this book too and there’s a great spread where the community screams, “No, not the mamas! Not the papas!” Needless to say, our heroes end up saving the day. And, as PW said of it, this book, “invites full storytelling surrender”.

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Bob and Hilbert by Bárður Oskarsson, translated from the Faroese by Marita Thomsen

ISBN: 9781962770651

Publication Date: September 15, 2026

It turns out that Oskarsson is a new author for the Elsewhere Editions team but he might be familiar to some of you out there already. Anyone happen to remember the book The Flat Rabbit when it came out in 2014? Well, everyone’s favorite Scandinavian author/illustrator is back. This book fits nicely into the Reverso trend I’ve noticed popping up in 2026 (more on that soon). One side of this book tells Bob’s side of a story, and Hilbert’s side is on the other. Now as you can see, Bob is a rabbit and Hilbert a dog and the the drawing style that renders them is very spare. In spite of its seemingly simplicity, this book is both extremely funny and subtle. It has this angle into the absurdity of human existence that children respond to. In the story, Bob buys a carrot, gets on a bus, and proceeds to lose the carrot. Interestingly, Bárður takes years and years to get this art just right. He’s very precise. The end result? Utterly unique.

And that’s all we have for you here today! My thanks indeed to Emma Raddatz, Sarah Gale, Jill Schoolman, and everyone else at Elsewhere Editions.

Filed under: Publisher Previews