Weeskinders gives a home to the orphans
Up until a few years ago, silent books were a rare find in Hungary. Today, these wordless wonders are found everywhere: In publishing houses, at exhitibions, in book stores, libraries, schools and homes. The situation were turned around by a few key people, and in the center of it all is Zsuzsannah Blaschke and her team at Weeskinders, the only all-silent book publisher in Hungary - and one of the few in the world.
The name Weeskinders was chosen because it means orphans in Afrikaans. – Illustrators are known as the orphans of the publishing world, and silent books are the orphans of the picture book world, so it felt very fitting, founder Zsuzsanna Blaschke says with a smile. With her publishing house, Blaschke has created a space that is not only a safe haven, but also a loving and supporting home where both the illustrators and the silent books can thrive.
How it all started
I stumbled upon the Weeskinders team by serendipity at the Bologna Book Fair 2026. Or perhaps it was no wonder, as we were all on the same silent book quest. I was amazed to find that an all-silent book publisher exists in Europe, and thrilled to be invited to give the opening speech for their international silent book exhitibion “Picture tales – the story within you” in Budapest this september. The beautiful Deák17 gallery, located in the middle of the city, was packed with people and press, and the amount of high quality Hungarian silent books and activities was mindblowing. I spent four amazing days in Budapest and was very happy to see a lot of silent books also outside the gallery: They are very much present both in bookstores and libraries. It is hard to imagine that this is a country that had almost no silent book activity up until a few years ago!
It started in a library, and Zsuzsanna Blacshke took it from there. She was introduced to silent books some years ago by Erika Pauer, who works at the Sándor Bródy library in Eger. Pauer started the library’s silent book collection in 2017. Blaschke immediately fell in love with the wordless wonders, and invited the acclaimed artist Gabriel Pacheco (Mexico/Italy) to do a workshop for Hungarian illustrators. This workshop gave the attending group of 18 local illustrators inspiraton and knowledge about silent books, and formed the start of both the Weeskinders team of artists, named #fairytailproject.
– Illustrators are known as the orphans of the publishing world, and silent books are the orphans of the picture book world, so the name Weeskinders ("Orphans") felt very fitting!
Zsuzsanna Blaschke,
creative director, Weeskinders Publishing
Photo: Krisztina Bilák
The community is a big part of the success
Weeskinders’ group of illustrators meet once a month to creative sessions led by Blaschke and her team. – At our monthly meetings, all the authors in the group bring their current works in progress, either in form of an idea, a storyboard or a picture. When working with an idea for a book, we always start with the storyboard. Then we agree on what illustraton that will work best as the story’s starting point. An important part of this process is to find the correct technique to support the storyline. Blaschke explains by using an example: - Sometimes using aquarelle might be too much, too kitchy. Other times, it is not enough – to watery for grand emotions or darkness. And then there are books where it is the perfect technique.
When the techniques are agreed upon, the illustrators start preparing the artwork. Blaschke often encourage them to start with the three most important illustrations: The one that starts the story, the tipping point and the solution. The authors are given a lot of freedom: - For example, there might be an artist who insists of including an illustration that I might find a little kitchy. In those cases, I do agree, but I might set some terms, for example by suggestion adding more drama and tension to the story to even it out. Then it is up to the artist to decide what kind of drama or tension that will fit their artistic idea.
For Blaschke, it is obvious that the group is an important key to Weeskinders’ success: - All members of the group are great artists, but in order to make a silent book, they need to make a lot of illustrations, often more than 50. That is a very long and lonely process if you are to do it all alone! Also, I am not an illustrator, so there are things I can’t advice on, but the artists help each other improve by giving each other professional advice.
Silent books are now part of the literary conversation in Hungary, something that was unthinkable only a few years ago.
Weeskinders creative team
The orphans at Weeskinders, both the books and the artists, are also taken care of by László Dávid Nagy and Tímea Szaler. Nagy is the creative manager and Szaler is the project manager. Both are very engaged in the silent books, the artists and the artistic processes.
– For me, silent books are important because they let you dream while you are awake, explains Nagy. I have always been passionate about stories, art and music, and silent books combine all three. Szaler stresses the importance these books have for developing mutual understandings: - Silent books lets us understand each others feelings and situations, and because of this, they help us develop empathy for each other. Szaler is a silent book author herself. Her book The ball, will be published in 2026, and artwork from the title is currently exhibited at the Déak 17 gallery exhibition.
Photo: Krisztina Bilák
The silent book exhitibion "Picture tales - the story within you" was a collaboration between Weeskinders and the beautiful Deak17-gallery. Silent book exhibitions is one of the ways Weeskinders work to make silent books known both to the public and to artists and teachers.
Zsuzsanna Blaschke and Anita Berge working on the opening seremony
Timea Szaler and László Dávid Nagy makes preparations for the exhitibion
Contests, exhitibions, workshops and an online store
Weeskinders has just held an international silent book contest. It was possible to compete in three different groups: One for debut illustrators, one for established artists and one group for children and teenagers. The shortlist was presented at the Picture tales-exhibition, and it was really impressive. – We were amazed by the quality of the shortlist, the team agrees, and we have decided that all of the shortlisted books will be published. Only analog illustrations were accepted to the contest, to ensure high quality and avoid work done by AI. Blaschke says they were very happy with the results, but that it ended up being a lot more time-consuming than anticipated due to the high number of entries. – We will probably make this contest a bi-annual event, both because of the workload, and because we now have so many titles lined up for publishing.
Silent books are now a part of the literary conversation in Hungary, something that was unthinkable only a few years ago. The Weeskinders team has worked hard to make this happen. They have a close collaboration with local libraries, arrange beautiful silent book exhitibions and do a lot of workshops for teachers, parents, children and other interested groups. Their attention to silent books have rubbed off, and other Hungarian publishers are now also publishing a number of silent titles. – We created a stir, says Blaschke, because within our group of illustrators are some of the best known names in Hungary. When they joined us, they told the other publishers, so they started to pay attention to what we are doing.
Blaschke welcomes the competition: - I think it is a good thing for everyone. When there are other publishers making silent books, also of high quality, it forces us to be even better, to constantly strive to make the very best books possible. And the increased attention to these books will make the market larger for all of us. Weeskinders webshop, silentbooks.hu, shows this generous attitude by offering not only their own titles, but also a wide range of other great Hungarian silent book authors. They also have a unique selection of international titles. As of now, the online store ships to Hungary only, but Weeskinders are working on an international shipping solution to bring the Hungarian silent book joy out into the world.
Zsuzsanna Blaschke, László Dávid Nagy and Timea Szaler provides a safe haven for the "orphans" of the publishing industry at Weeskinders. In the pictures, you can also see some of their silent book titles.
If you want to learn more about Hungarian silent books and get a closer look at both current and historical titles, click here!