Iranian artist Fereshteh Najafi won an Honorable Mention Prize at the Sharjah Exhibition for Children’s Books Illustrations held parallel with the eighth edition of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF), April 20-30, in the UAE.
Najafi and illustrators from Italy and Spain won the Honorable Mention Prize of $1,000 each, Mehr News Agency reported.
The Iranian artist received the award for illustrating the children’s book ‘Golabtoon and the White Horse’, written by Fatemeh Kavandi and Mahmoudreza Bahmanpur, and published by Nazar Publications in Iran.
The story is an adaptation of the tale of Fereydoon and Zahhak from the epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings) written by the great Persian poet Ferdowsi.
The modified and simplified story, written for young adults, is told by a young girl, Golabtoon, who is in love with Mardan, a young man imprisoned by the evil ruler, Zahhak.
Najafi’s simple illustrations beautifully depict the set and characters which help young readers visualize the story in their minds. Painted with bright colors, her pictures accompany the text and find a way to the readers’ imagination, helping them with a better understanding of the story.
IBBY Honor List
Another recent book illustrated by Najafi titled ‘Do Not Open This Book’, written by Fatima Sharafeddine and published by Kalimat Publishing House in the UAE, has been listed in the IBBY Honor List 2016, which is a biennial selection of outstanding, recently published books, honoring writers, illustrators and translators from the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) member countries.
Najafi, 43, holds a master’s degree in illustration from Tehran University of Art. Her artistic experience includes graphic designing for various children’s magazines, as art manager for several school and story books, and illustrating over 20 books published in different countries.
She has published three books which she wrote and illustrated herself and participated in tens of local and international exhibitions in Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Serbia, South Africa, Japan and the UAE.
Sharjah Exhibition for Children’s Books Illustrations aims to promote artists’ work around the world and enable artists, authors and publishers to work in harmony towards a common goal: high-quality children’s books.
It seeks to provide a platform for illustrators in producing attractive children’s books with high quality illustrations to bring the text to life and make it more child-friendly.
The SCRF is annually held at Sharjah Expo Center, where more than 120 international and local publishers offer their books for sale.
