Georgian author creates colourful bilingual book for children

Children in Georgia and German-speaking countries can soon get their hands on a colourful new book by author and illustrator Tatia Nadareishvili, and you can contribute to the project.

Working with the Book Art Centre in Tbilisi, Nadareishvili has published works in Georgia since 2011.

Now the writer’s creativity has caught the eye of Baobab Books, a Swiss association working on children's literature.

The non-profit publishing house announced plans to print Nadareishvili's latest work, a book titled Sleep Well! in German and distribute it in German-speaking countries next year.

Illustrator Tatia Nadareishvili draws the main character of the book. Screenshot from the artist's profile video.

To make the project a reality, Baobab Books launched an online crowdfunding campaign to raise 3,330 Swiss Francs (around 7,300 GEL/$3,400 USD*) to cover costs not covered by the book’s sales such as the "conceptual design, translation and printing" of the book.

Set up on the www.wemakeit.com platform, the crowdfunding campaign has already reached about two-thirds of the fundraising goal with 11 days to go before the fundraising closes.

Publishers said the book would be bilingual and have both Georgian and German text alongside colourful illustrations.

The book tells the story of a young boy who cannot sleep at night and goes on a walk to find out about the sleeping habits of animals who he meets on his journey.

Tatia Nadareishvili (C) attended this year's Tbilisi International Book Fair as part of the Virgami Virtual Publishing House team. Photo from the Book Art Centre/Facebook.

By interacting with a giraffe, bat, koala bear and more, the main character learns how they choose to rest.

When speaking about her new work Sleep Well! At the Book Art Centre, Nadareishvili said she would be "very happy if parents read this book to their children before they go to sleep".

Born in Tbilisi, Nadareishvili is now based in the south-eastern Georgian city Rustavi.

Having studied illustration and graphic design at Tbilisi's State Academy of Art, she worked as an art therapist in a daycare centre for children with disabilities.

She currently works as freelance illustrator, contributing to projects at Virgami Virtual Publishing House at the Book Art Centre and participating in their activities to promote and develop book illustration art.

Nadareishvili has taken part in group exhibitions in Georgia since 2009 and has featured individually at the Tbilisi Book Days festival. She published her first book The Black River in 2011.

Sleep Well! will be her first book published outside Georgia and features acrylic painting and digital post-editing by the author.

Based in Basel, Switzerland, Baobab Books involves authors and illustrators from across the world with the aim to "promote cultural diversity in children's literature".

See Georgian author and illustrator Tatia Nadareishvili speak about her book 'Sleep Well!' and creative work below:

* Currency rates are according to today's National Bank of Georgia exchange rate.