Zoliani Kata to publish illustrated Book
By Mariam Chanishvili
Wednesday, October 30
Zoliani Kata (literally Striped Cat), is an independent publishing house of children's literature and contemporary Georgian fiction, founded in 2016 and based in Tbilisi.
With the support of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, an illustrated book, a sequel to the 2013 postcard collection "50 Women From Georgia,” will be published.
These postcards tell the stories of women who lived, fought, created, changed the nineteenth-twentieth-century Georgia. In 2013, the adventures of 50 women were collected, but the search for biographies, specification, and collection at the Women's Museum continues.
The selection process wasn't easy, the publishers noted. Niki Tarkhan-Mouravi, the founder of Zoliani Kata, said that in addition to female painters and artists, the book has sought to include stories of women who are less well-known in society - the stories of female scientists, athletes, doctors or architects.
“Previously, so-called, "technical" subjects were regarded only as occupations of men. That's why we had few professional women in such fields. We think we need to know who, for example, was the first female surgeon in Georgia to break stereotypes, withstand public pressure and set an example for other girls,” said the founder of Zoliani Kata.
Mariam Chanchaleishvili, Program Coordinator for the Tbilisi Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Is working on children's adapted text of the book. She thinks the children's version of this book, "50 Women From Georgia," will become more popular.
“We have been working on the texts until now and we are trying to make it interesting to read. The book will probably include the story of 30 women. We have tried to publish the stories of women with different professions and nationalities and we want these stories to be remembered,” she noted.
Heinrich Boell Foundation Tbilisi Office - South Caucasus Region is to contribute to the forming of free, fair and tolerant societies in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
In the frameworks of the democratic political culture promotion program the South Caucasus Regional Office supports initiatives of social and political empowerment of women and sexual minorities.
The main characters of the book are painted by the art director of Holmes & Watson - painter Sali Nikolaishvili - the work is in progress - with some minor changes to the illustrations yet to come.
“It's really hard to paint so many legendary women and show that diversity. Everyone is different from each other. I read their stories, looked at their photos. I thought about how to find a specific visual style that kids would love. I thought they would look at the colors. Let's see what the kids say, how they like it. I enjoyed working on this book,” noted the artist.
The name of the book is still underway. It will remind you of a world-bestseller, "Rebel Girls," a book that is already in Georgian and tells children about famous women who have changed a lot in fashion, science, technology, literature, politics or other areas in an easy language. It inspires girls with the stories of great women, from Elizabeth I to Serena Williams.
