Kotryna Zylė, Inga Dagilė. Geriausia diena (The Best Day), Vilnius: Aukso žuvys, 2022. – 36 p. 

What do you do when you have bad luck? You will find out from the protagonists of this book – Elzė from the eighth floor and her neighbour Titas, who lives on the fourth floor. Elzė grows rosy-cheeked tomatoes on her balcony and collects… matchboxes that contain her best days. Her friend builds rockets (the illustrator has drawn them so that you can discover what they’re like). Are you still interested to know what children do on bad days? They resort to BDRP (Bad Day Rescue Plan)! What can this be?

Kotryna Zylė (real name Kotryna Zilinskienė, b. 1986) is an author of books for children and young adults, illustrator and graphic designer. She has written seven books in this category, five of which she has illustrated herself. Her interest in mythology sets her apart from other authors. Kotryna has won a number of awards, including the Aloyzas Petrikas Literary Prize (2019) and the Martynas Vainilaitis Prize (2022). Since 2017, she has been one of the founders and organisers of the children’s and young adult literature festival Vaikų knygų sala (Children’s Book Island) and the children’s literature industry days Kūrėjų sala (Creators’ Island). Along with the creators of the literary education programme Vaikų žemė (Land of the children), she has also founded the project Knygiukai į pagalbą skaitymui (Tiny books to the Rescue).

Inga Dagilė (b. 1981) is a freelance designer, book designer and children’s book illustrator. She has illustrated eleven books for children. She has also founded various literary initiatives and won many awards for her works in Lithuania and worldwide, including a Sharjah Children’s Book Illustration Exhibition diploma for the illustrations in Istorijos skanėstai (Historical Delicacies, 2018) by Aurina Venislovaitė, and a finalist’s award at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival for the illustrations in Mano tėtis rašo knygą (My Father is Writing a Book, 2019) by Tomas Dirgėla.
Illustrator’s portfolio: https://www.dagilis.lt/

Selected translations

Latvian: Labākā diena. Translated by Dace Meiere. Riga: Jāņa Rozes apgāds, 2024

Finnish: Huippuhyvä päivä. Translated by Urtė Liepuoniūtė. Helsinki: Hertta Kustannus, 2023

Contact for rights: sigita@auksozuvys.lt