Early in 2013 I received an email out of the blue, asking me
if I would be interested in doing some editing work on picture book texts for a
new publisher. It turned out to be an
exciting opportunity, and a chance to do rather more than simply editing. I reworked texts which had been translated
into English from their original Persian.
These are important books, several of them major prize
winning ones, but which haven’t appeared in the British book market before.
Iranian Delaram Ghanimifard set up the Tiny Owl publishing
house in London with her husband - http://tinyowl.co.uk/ The first of Tiny Owl’s books are now
published, and getting excellent reviews.
I want to show off some of the artwork to you. You’ll see it’s refreshingly different from
the current trends in British illustration.
The variety here demonstrates how illustrative art is clearly flourishing
in Iran. Take a look!
Little Black Fish is perhaps the odd one out in this group of
books in that it isn’t aimed just at children.
It has quite a long text, and the story of the determined little fish
that wants to see the world beyond its home pool is an allegory for the Iranian
nation at times when it has been dangerous to make a stand for different
ideas. This story was written in 1968 by
Samad Behrangi, and his death, rumoured to have been ordered by the Iranian
Government, has given him, and this story, legendary status. The pictures are by Farshid Mesghali.
