Buy Cinderella of the Nile By Marie-Louise Patton Fairytales have deep cultural roots embedded in human history. From the beginning of time people have shared stories, passing them down from generation to generation. Whether it be orally, through illustrations or the written word, these fairytales have a significance in their telling: leave a mark, make us think and often teach a valuable life lesson. Every culture has their own versions of these classic fairytales and each…
The importance of children seeing themselves represented in books Buy Bijan and Manije By Simran Divatia When I was a child, it was incredibly rare to see an image in a book that reminded me of myself. All the princesses in my picture books looked a lot like each other, but not a lot like me. The ones I did see barely got a word in, and were never the focus of the story. In Bijan…
Buy Bijan and Manije Read a wonderful review of Bijan and Manije by Books for Keeps: This is a retelling from Shahnameh, the Book of Kings, the Persian epic collection brought together in the 10th century. In this tale a young Iranian knight, Bijan, goes into a neighbouring kingdom to deal with a herd of wild boars and is betrayed by a companion into visiting the palace of a cruel tyrant, king Afrasiab. There he falls…
Step back in time to 10th-century Persia: below you can watch the introductory video to Bijan & Manije! Bijan & Manije is a beautiful story of love across the divide, reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, but with a distinctive Persian flavour. A twist of fate brings Bijan face to face with the daughter of his enemy. They fall in love and refuse to abandon each other, even under duress. Can Iran’s greatest knight, Rostam, help…
Fantastic news: Bijan and Manije has reached the final of the first Little Hakka International Picture Book Award! In December it will be part of an exhibition in the beautiful town of Kengkeng Hakka in Shenzhen, China, showcasing all the finalists’ books. Little Hakka will host a day-long forum entitled ‘Forests and Children’, in celebration of children’s picture books and the competition’s first year, before announcing the overall winner at an awards ceremony. The award,…