Gold
Misjka
Today the unimaginable happened: Misjka, the book that I wrote based on info by Anoush Elman, was awarded with the biggest book prize form The Netherlands, the Gouden Griffel (Golden Pencil) 2023. We already received a Silver one, but now one of the silver awards was turned into gold by the jury, and it was our book.
Misjka is about the 9-year old Roya, who states that, now her family is granted asylum in The Netherlands and moved into their own house, one thing is missing, and that’s a pet. Misjka is a tiny rabbit that conquers the heart of all the family members. Roya starts telling the rabbit the stories of how her parents, brothers and she had to flee from Afghanistan. But the, one day, Misjka dissapears…
I want to thank the jury, the book sellers and book promotors for not just noticing our book, but also for really seeing it. I’d like to express thanks to designer Roald Triebels, to my publisher Wende Wilbers (Querido, Amsterdam) and my outstanding editor Mirjam Bolt, and to illustrator Annet Schaap for making this book shine so bright. But most of all I wanna thank Anoush/Ramin, Roya/Morsal and all of the Elman family members, for being the warm, caring, exquisite people that they are.
Misjka is already available in German (as Mischka, by Thienemann Verlag), and the English (Levine Querido), Latvian (Liels un Mazs), Italian (Sinnos), French (L’école de loisirs) and Macedonian (Chudna Suma) translations will follow soon. More book right scan be negociated here.