The Russian State Children’s Library (RSCL), the Association “We Bring Up a Reader” and “Sadra” Publishing House implemented a major charitable project: a two volume collection of Russian and Persian fairy tales. These books are not only colourful, this is also a bridge between two great cultures built by the means of words and images.
The basis of the book is formed by five couples of fairy tales with similar plots. Namely, there are analogies between Russian Zhar-Ptitza and Persian Simourgh, Russian finger boy and Persian half-a-boy, as well as between other heroes. Each couple of tales becomes a platform for cultural dialogue: a common idea is being dressed into a special national coverage, and two language format (texts both in Russian and in Persian) allows to feel the beauty of both languages.
The book is provided with modern illustrations performed by nine masters: five Russian artists (Ekaterina Golovanova, Yuliya Gukova, Olga Monina, Victoriya Fomina, Mikhail Fyodorov) and four Iranian artists (Mahshid Darabi, Najla Mahdavi-Ashraf, Sahar Mirhosseini, Sahara Khorasani). Their works transform the book into a real art object.
The two volume will be distributed between Foundations of the central children’s libraries all over Russia.
You can get personally acquainted with the book at the presentation “From Zhar-Ptitza to Simourgh: Russian and Persian Folklore in New Translations and Illustrations” on 5 September at the Moscow International Book Fair at Gostiny Dvor, as well as at the stand of “Sadra Publishing House” G 38.
