The Magic Ring: Translated and adapted by Sian Valvis. Illustrated by Dovilé Valvis - Hardcover

Valvis, Sian; Shergin, Boris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1906257442 ISBN 13: 9781906257446

Publisher: Fontanka, 2025

Synopsis

Charming folk story ingeniously adapted by translator Sian Valvis from a traditional tale told in the Pomor (northern Russia) dialect. Beautifully illustrated by Dovile Ciapaite.

The Magic Ring is a traditional folktale that was rewritten by the writer Boris Shergin in the 1930s. Translator Sian Valvis has translated and adapted the text, written in Pomor, a northern Russian, dialect which survived despite attempts to suppress it during the Soviet period. Creating her own version mixing northern English dialect with ingenious neologisms and rhyme, Sian retains the strongly regional flavour of the original and its madcap, anarchic feel while making it accessible and entertaining for children and adult readers alike.

A peasant boy, Vanya, comes across a magic ring which grants him wishes. To marry the tsar's daughter he must build a bridge connecting the palace with his village, and this he does with the help of the ring. The princess tricks him into sharing the secret of the ring, and uses it to transport herself to Paris and her lover. Through the initiative of Snowy the dog and Mashka the cat, the ring is retrieved and all ends well.

About this title

About the Author

Boris Shergin was a writer, folklorist and artist, active from the 1920s to his death in 1973. He was born to a family of fishermen and boatbuilders in Arkhangelsk in 1893, and brought up in the local Pomor cultural tradition. He started recording northern folktales and songs when still a teenager. He published his first book in 1924, of northern tales and ballads, and several more publications followed. Following the ‘Leningrad affair’ in 1947, when the writers Akhmatova and Zoshchenko were officially discredited, Shergin was also condemned for ‘violating the Russian language’ and was not published for over a decade.

Sian Valvis was the recipient of the National Centre for Writing literary translator mentorship (2020), during which her work appeared in Teffi’s Other Worlds (NYRB, ed. Robert Chandler). Her rhyming translation of Kolobok (Fontanka, 2021) won a PEN Translates award―the first translation from Russian for younger readers to win the award. She was shortlisted for the John Dryden Prize (2023), and Highly Commended for the AAWP Translation Prize (2023). She leads translation workshops in schools, using Kolobok as a prompt for children to write their own stories. The Slavic folktale The Magic Ring is her second picture book.

Dovilė Valvis is a Lithuanian multidisciplinary designer, architect, and illustrator based in London. She has worked across editorial, cultural, educational, and children’s illustration projects. Her illustration for Kolobok was longlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize. Her work explores the rituals of the everyday, drawing inspiration from the imaginary worlds of folklore and myth.

From the Back Cover

Charming folk story ingeniously adapted by translator Sian Valvis from a traditional tale told in the Pomor (northern Russia) dialect.Beautifully illustrated by Dovile Valvis


The Magic Ring is a traditional folktale that was rewritten by the writer Boris Shergin in the 1930s. Translator Sian Valvis has translated and adapted the text, written in Pomor, a northern Russian, dialect which survived despite attempts to suppress it during the Soviet period. Creating her own version mixing northern English dialect with ingenious neologisms and rhyme, Sian retains the strongly regional flavour of the original and its madcap, anarchic feel while making it accessible and entertaining for children and adult readers alike.

A peasant boy, Vanya, comes across a magic ring which grants him wishes. To marry the tsar's daughter he must build a bridge connecting the palace with his village, and this he does with the help of the ring. The princess tricks him into sharing the secret of the ring, and uses it to transport herself to Paris and her lover. Through the initiative of Snowy the dog and Mashka the cat, the ring is retrieved and all ends well.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fontanka
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1906257442
• ISBN 13: 9781906257446
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Valvis Dovile
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 48