中国日报网5月12日电 据澳大利亚《悉尼先驱晨报》报道，5月11日，作为在中国举行的澳大利亚作家文学周的一部分，布朗温·班克罗夫的儿童绘本《下大雨了》中文译本正式发行。在北京一所小学举办的新书发布见面会上，她表示自己受到了“狂热”的追捧并感动落泪。
书中有趣的家庭故事和精美的插图令这些七八岁的孩子们着了迷。当她所描绘的邦加隆女人生活的画面投射到大屏幕上时，她对孩子们说,自己是用一个番茄酱瓶子创作的。孩子们表示难以置信。
班克罗夫特说:“在澳大利亚,我们付出艰辛的努力只为了赢得读者的认可，然而中国孩子们这些激动而真实的反应着实让我感动。”
去年中国成为澳大利亚图书版权交易的最大海外市场。看一看中国图书销售数字,完全可以解释为何澳大利亚出版商如今青睐中国市场。据中国出版协会统计，2016年中国的图书销量上升12%，达到700亿元人民币，其中童书销量更是激增了29%。
人民文学出版社副总编辑肖丽媛表示,网购成为图书销量增长的主要驱动力。由于中国父母重视图书的质量，因此从海外进口的童书成为图书市场中增长速度最快的板块。同时学校也在鼓励学生享受阅读的乐趣，改革仅仅为了考试而读书的模式。
托马斯·肯尼利是此次参加澳大利亚文学周的4名作家之一。他回忆之前来中国访问的印象时讲道：“书籍对中国人非常重要，但在过去出版质量不高，不过现在图书的出版水平提高了，甚至正在超过澳大利亚。”在他看来,读者能通过汉语了解另一种文化是“一件美妙的事”。
据悉，2002年到2015年间，3200本澳大利亚畅销书被翻译成中文在中国出版。与2002年出版105本澳大利亚畅销书相比，2015年这个数字上升到了404本。
（编辑：潘一侨 党超峰）
Chinese schoolkids' applause brings Indigenous author Bronwyn Bancroft to tears
The Mandarin translation of Big Rain Coming, one of 30 children's books Bancroft has created, was launched on Thursday as part of Australian Writers' Week in China.
On her first morning in Beijing, she said the reception had been "just crazy". She was moved to tears at the response to her bright images of bush and home at a Beijing primary school.
Seven and eight year-olds gasped at photographs of giant eucalypt, and family anecdotes of swimming in creeks, watching out for the platypus.
But it was when her paintings of life as a Bundjalong woman were projected onto the big screen ，She told the children she created them with a tomato sauce bottle. "What!" they shrieked.
"In Australia we fight so hard for recognition as creators ... I don't have an ego, but I was overwhelmed by the emotional response from the kids and the spontaneity," Bancroft said.
Last year, China became the top overseas market for Australian book rights deals. A look at China's book sales figures explains why Australian publishers are beating on Beijing's door.
Book sales in China rose 12 per cent in 2016, to reach 70 billion yuan ($13 billion), according to the Publisher's Association of China. Children's books surged 29 per cent.
Xiao Liyuan, the deputy editor-in-chief of the People's Literature Publishing House, said online shopping was the main driver of the surge.
The value of the book market was increasing because the watchdog had tightened checks on quality, Ms Xiao said, causing an increase in prices.
Children's books were the fastest-growing sector because of the attention Chinese parents pay to their children's education. Reading for pleasure is being encouraged under a reform to the school system to move away from learning just to pass exams.
To compete with online sellers, and boosted by government tax breaks, book stores are transforming into cultural hubs and designing new spaces that appeal to the cashed-up middle class.
Thomas Keneally, one of four Australian authors touring China for Australian Writer's Week, said he recalled from his earlier visits to China: "Books were important but very poorly produced, and now the production is improving in standard and surpassing Australia."
He said it was "a wonderful thing" that readers would be introduced to another culture via Mandarin.
Between 2002 and 2015, there have been 3200 Australian titles translated into Chinese and published in China.
There were 404 Australian titles published in 2015, up from 105 in 2002.
