Victor D.O. Santos is the author of the new children's picture book What Makes Us Human. His other books include My Dad, My Rock. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa.
Q: What inspired you to write What Makes Us Human?
A: I have always been fascinated by languages. As a young child, I would stare at and be fascinated by people who spoke a different language. In college, I decided to study linguistics and had exposure to a large number of languages, of vastly different types, including indigenous languages of Brazil and Australia.
After finishing another picture book of mine called My Dad, My Rock (Scribble, 2024), also illustrated by Anna Forlati, and hearing news that yet another indigenous language had gone extinct after the death of its last speaker, I realized that as an author and linguist I was in a lucky position to work on a picture book on the topic of language.
I wanted it to be a book that would open readers’ eyes to the beauty and value of all the world’s languages and to how language and culture walk hand in hand with one another. I also wanted to create a book that would hopefully make people everywhere care about language preservation.
Q: What do you think Anna Forlati's illustrations add to the book?
A: The book works as a riddle, in which the theme of the book (language) and its first person narrator is not revealed until the very last page. Clues as to the theme can be found both in the lyrical text and in Anna's illustrations.
Anna's illustrations for her books tend to be quite full of details and colorful, with little empty space, but for this book she felt that the illustrations had to allow the text to breathe a bit more than in other books of hers.
Her illustrations complement my text quite well, I would say, and the book really is only fully understood when both text and illustrations are experienced together, as a unit. I myself am a big fan of the poetry in Anna's illustrations, so I may be biased to comment on this (smile).
Q: The book was published in partnership with UNESCO--how would you describe the partnership?
A: The book had already been completed before UNESCO came into the picture. When UNESCO heard of What Makes Us Human, they saw the book as a great opportunity to amplify and spread, in a very tangible form, the message about the United Nations International Decade of Indigenous Languages, which UNESCO is leading.
UNESCO then decided to officially endorse the book in connection with the Decade and to act as a co-publisher of the book in as many languages as possible, including the English one by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.
So it's a win-win partnership, in which the book benefits from the UNESCO name and respect around the world, and UNESCO benefits from the fact that the book is helping to spread the message about the Decade.
Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?
A: It is my hope that the book will help children who have more than one language and culture understand that they should be proud of having more than one cultural or linguistic heritage and understand that this is a huge asset they will have for the rest of their lives.
For children who are monocultural or monolingual, I hope the book will help open their eyes to how every culture and every language is important and worthy of their respect.
I also hope the book will make them more interested in learning other languages and about different cultures, and in that way plant a tiny seed in their minds and hearts that will allow them to be world-citizens one day, who will understand and advocate for the value and worth of every language and culture in this world.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Anna Forlati (illustrator of What Makes Us Human, selected for the 2023 White Ravens catalog) and I just finished our third book together, called Before I Forget.
It is our most emotional book so far and we just showed it to several publishers from different countries and languages at the Bologna Children's Book Fair now in April 2024.
Several of the publishers had tears in their eyes once they finished reading the book, which of course is great validation to the heart and soul that Anna and I put into the book.
English rights to the book are currently still available, so if there are any publishers out there interested in seeing the book, please kindly get in touch with me through my author website:
https://www.authorvictorsantos.com/
I also have two other picture books in the making, one illustrated by Anna Margrethe Kjærgaard (illustrator of Rabbit, Coffee, Snowdrop, Lost) and another illustrated by Catarina Sobral, a well-known Portuguese illustrator nominated now in 2024 for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Anyone who would like to know more about my books can check out my website or follow me on Instagram. It would be a pleasure for me to connect with readers through either channel.
https://www.authorvictorsantos.com/
https://www.instagram.com/linguacious_llc/
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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