Meeting Marjan Vafaian in Tehran

Marjan Vafaian, illustrator of Bijan & Manije and The Parrot and the Merchant — Marjan Vafaian, illustrator of *Bijan & Manije* and *The Parrot and the Merchant*

Marjan lives in Kish Island, in the south of Iran. When we arrived in Iran, she had gone to Dubai to apply for a visit visa to the UK, to attend the Edinburgh International Book Festival. As you may know, despite all the documents and the EIBF invitation, her visa got refused. Unfortunately this meant we could not launch her newest book, Bijan & Manije with her being present in the UK as scheduled before. I met her in Tehran when she was back from a frustrating three weeks wait in Dubai.

I had a chance to give her, an advance copy of her latest book, Bijan & Manije. Marjan has a very calm personality, that is probably echoed in her Persian cat! Her quietness and femininity is visible in her illustrations. I could easily see the merchant lady (male in the original story, but a woman in Marjan’s retelling) from The Parrot and the Merchant in her. However, the boldness of Manije from Bijan & Manije was somehow visible behind her looks.

Marjan Vafaian siging a copy of *The Parrot and the Merchant*

She promised to write her experiences of retelling ancient stories for children today. Then she signed a copy of The Parrot and the Merchant. The signed book will be given away to a lucky winner in a near future event.