Emma Adbage

Emma AdBåge is a Swedish illustrator and author who debuted in 2001 and has since illustrated several titles, both her own and others. She has won several awards, including the Elsa Beskow Plaque and the Lennart Hellsing Prize. In 2018 she won the August Prize for THE HOLE BEHIND THE GYM, and was also awarded the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 2022 for the same title.

AdBåge's stories and illustrations make everyday emotions and experiences both immediately recognizable and richly interesting. Her stories and drawings are observant, succinct, humorous and perceptive. With their carefully drawn lines and gentle colors, AdBåge's illustrations combine small details with bold characters, whose bodily postures and facial expressions give a distinct insight into what they think and feel.

Her works have been translated into over 20 languages.

Melissa Bowers is a translator and editor living in Seattle, Washington. She is an ATA-certified Swedish-to-English translator and seasoned copy editor whose work spans picture books, graphic novels, poetry and academic manuscripts by non-native English authors. Her recent literary translations include Emma AdBåge's The Wound (Arctis Books, Oct 2025), Moa Romanova's Buff Soul and Goblin Girl (Fantagraphics Books), and Liv Strömquist's The Reddest Rose (2023), while her non-fiction credits encompass legal and governmental documents, subtitles QC, and translation samples for literary agents. As a copy editor since 2013, she specializes in refining academic manuscripts for clarity and voice. Melissa holds an MFA in Literary Translation from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a certificate in Technical Writing & Editing from the University of Washington, and she earned a 2021 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material for her translation of Goblin Girl.