MenCare Georgia’s children’s book on gender equality featured at Tbilisi Int’l Book Festival

A children’s book produced by the Georgian-based MenCare campaign for gender equality and positive parenting was featured among publications at the Tbilisi International Book Festival in the Georgian capital that closed on Sunday.

Running at the Expo Georgia fairgrounds, the event hosted a stand for the campaign, where Courageous Little Hearts: Tales of Hope and Kindness was promoted.

Published with the assistance of United Nations Women, the UN Population Fund and the European Union, the release aims to educate children about inclusivity and gender equality using stories produced by five authors from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, five states of the EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative.

Photo: Mencare Georgia

The stories - on topics ranging from gender equality and gender stereotypes to human rights, discrimination and positive parenting - were contributed by Dato Gabunia, Dato Gorgiladze, Toresa Mossy and Mindia Arabuli from Georgia.

Photo: Mencare Georgia

Arabuli said the writing for Courageous Little Hearts had been “unique and fascinating”, adding getting the book in the hands of children was of “utmost importance”.

The official presentation of the book took place during Europe Days [annual celebration] in Tbilisi, [with] the tour of the collection also held in Kutaisi and Ozurgeti [in the west of the country]. We visited children and their parents, and we worked together to read to the children and have [elementary school teacher] Giorgi Liparishvili lead workshops based on fairy tales. The reading and workshop were hosted at the Tbilisi International Book Festival”, Arabuli noted.

Children are excellent listeners, because they are honest and open. I occasionally get messages from parents writing which fairytale they liked the most, and all this makes me enthusiastic about children's literature, which everyone can read”, he added.

The authors were joined by the Ukrainian author Natalia Trokhim and her Azerbaijani counterpart Afsana Yusifova, to read their works to children at the event, while a panel discussion at the fair also involved Arabuli, Trokhim and the Moldovan author Paula Erizanu.

Photo: Mencare Georgia

I loved above all seeing the children draw the characters, listen and interact with the stories in the book, as well as the stand - covering it in their scribbles and stickers. The book is beautiful, and the stories are different, and yet they complement each other perfectly - it’s been an honour to witness them come to life”, Erizanu said.

In her comments, Yusifova said she wanted her story to “not only tackle the problems that the [theme of the] project was dealing with, but also get the readers excited and feel joy while reading”.

Because I am sure that we human beings are created in a way that we want to tell and hear stories. We don’t just want to pass information. [...] We want to be surprised, to follow the story and get excited, feel empathy for the heroes”, the author added.

Photo: Mencare Georgia

The “multifunctional and interactive” stand for the campaign, hosted in the children's area of the Pavilion Six of the fairgrounds, engaged children in “various fun activities” with a number of child-friendly events, including a crafts session based on the book and led by Liparishvili.

Photo: Mencare Georgia

Designed for both children and adults, the texts incorporate the socio-economic context of the South Caucasus region and cover issues that also include public stereotypes, prejudice, male involvement in parenting and more.