Nationwide — Letter From a Plow Nation, a preferred kids’s guide written by Dr. Worku L. Mulat and illustrated by Daniel Getahun, was honored by Gourmand Awards 2023. It was listed as Second in “Sustainability Books” and famous below “Africa Fund Elevating.” The publication is the one centesimal guide to be revealed by Open Hearts Huge Desires (OHBD) Prepared Set Go Books (RSG), and it’s obtainable in 5 African languages together with Somali, Kiswahili, Amharic, Afaan Oromo, and Tigrinya.
The creator, Dr. Mulat, was born and grew up in a distant village referred to as Kersole, South Wollo, Ethiopia, to folks who by no means had the chance to discover ways to learn or write. His mother and father had been decided their kids would break the cycle of poverty by unlocking the ability of training. Dr. Mulat went on to earn superior levels in biology, environmental sanitation, and utilized ecology. He has a powerful ardour to provide again to his village and others round Ethiopia by selling literacy, innovation, and training.
The illustrator, Ethiopian-Canadian artist Daniel Getahun, obtained a diploma in graphic artwork from Addis Ababa College of Advantageous Arts and Design. He’s an modern artist who combines each conventional and digital strategies to create uniquely compelling items. Readers significantly love that his artwork performs with the distinctive fashion of historic Ethiopian work; as one reader says, “He combines the great thing about previous Ethiopia and fashionable Ethiopia on the web page.” The artist notes, “Youngsters’s books encourage my creativity as an artist and remind me of my childhood recollections of residing in Ethiopia.”
Along with the success of Letters From a Plow, one other guide additionally revealed by OHBD-Prepared Set Go Books, My 5 Senses, by Elizabeth Spor Taylor, was additionally honored by Gourmand Awards 2023. It was listed as First in “Meals Books for Youngsters—Africa.”
My 5 Senses helps younger readers expertise the wealthy tradition of Ethiopia via their eyes, nostril, mouth, ears, and fingers through an inquisitive dual-language early reader.
Writer Elizabeth Spor Taylor is a global literacy specialist and OHBD volunteer who traveled to Ethiopia eleven instances to go to colleges and work collaboratively with Ethiopian educators. The guide’s illustrations had been created primarily by retired US seniors engaged on the craft of portray at Clark Faculty Financial and Group Improvement in Vancouver, Washington. Carol Rose, one of many artwork college students who made vital contributions to the guide, notes how fulfilling the challenge was by saying, “My first watercolor lessons started after I retired. I’m honored to donate artwork to this challenge. I consider phrases and artwork can open new doorways in your thoughts and produce pleasure to your life.”
Ellenore Angelidis, Founder and Government Director of OBHD-RSG, feedback, “We thank the Gourmand Awards for recognizing our OHBD-RSG books on this method. Bringing high quality kids’s books that commemorate Ethiopian tales and tradition to youngsters around the globe, significantly in Ethiopia, is a key aim for us. The sort of visibility is crucial as every guide bought offers crucial funding to permit us to regionally print and donate these books to younger readers in Ethiopia.”
“Each Worku and Daniel have compelling life tales that present the ability of literacy and training,” explains Angelidis. “And so they deliver that into their work by creating tales that attain again in time in addition to encourage the long run. Letters from a Plow Nation additionally has the attention-grabbing vantage level of getting the nation of Ethiopia because the narrator.”
Concerning the Gourmand AwardsFounded in 1995, the Gourmand Awards are chosen every year from over 100,000 publications from 230 international locations/areas around the globe. The awards have been in comparison with movie’s Oscars. This yr’s Gourmand Awards Ceremony for the Greatest within the World befell in Sweden.
About OBHD Prepared Set Go BooksOpen Hearts Huge Desires (OBHD) is a Seattle-based, not-for-profit group that’s devoted to growing literacy, inclusion, innovation readiness, and management abilities in Ethiopia and past. These awards are anticipated to have a big effect on their programming.
OHBD-RSG Books program publishes culturally acceptable bilingual books and distributes them to readers in Ethiopia and around the globe. The quickly rising checklist consists of over 160 books in nineteen languages, with greater than 360,000 books printed and distributed in Ethiopia via OHBD’s native printing pilot and collaborations.
Jane Kurtz volunteers because the artistic lead on the OHBD-RSG Books and was herself offered with the distinguished IBBY-iRead Excellent Studying Promoter Award in September 2022, based mostly on this work and her many years of labor in Ethiopia. Kurtz is thrilled that these new awards spotlight the numerous function OHBD-RSG books play. She feedback, “Many Ethiopian kids have by no means held a guide with colourful photos, particularly not ones that present and honor the issues they see and scent and contact and style and listen to. Artwork crosses international boundaries.”
Be taught extra about OHBD Prepared Set Go Books at OHBD-RSGBooks.com
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For press inquiries, contact Ellenore Angelidis at 425-295-8841 or ellenore@openheartsbigdreams.org
