The article concentrates on the translation of visual literature in general and the translation of picturebooks in particular. It first discusses the specificity of this kind of literature and overviews the research on the translation of picturebooks, especially with regard to the various types of relationships between words and pictures and the ways in which such relationships may be transformed in translation. In the second part, the article focuses on the artistic output of Australian writer and illustrator Shaun Tan. It examines the Polish translations of two picturebook stories by this author, that is The Red Tree and The Lost Thing, published by Kultura Gniewu in 2014. The article emphasizes that a picturebook is a special kind of text in which the message is conveyed by interdependent words and pictures, which both contribute to communicating meaning that neither could express alone. Although seemingly simple to translate, a picturebook may nevertheless constitute a challenge for the translator. The article also sheds light on the translation of the words that are an integral part of illustrations, the result of the cooperation between translators, graphic artists and editors.
