Description
Azad’s name means “free.”
As Norooz approaches, Azad, a non-binary Iranian child, learns about the traditions their family has carried from one generation to the next—and begins to imagine what they might add to their own Sofreh-e Haft Sin.
A seed packet from Farmer Mo.
A solidarity poster from Miss Hurriya.
A postcard from Tré. A feather from the park.
Each carries a piece of Azad’s family, community, and world. As Azad gathers these treasures, they discover how traditions can hold both where we come from and the freer world we imagine together.
About the Author & Illustrator
Author
Tala Khanmalek (all pronouns) is a writer of Iranian descent based in the occupied lands of the Lisjan people (Berkeley, CA). Their creative writing appears or is forthcoming in Meridian, Indiana Review, Zoeglossia, The Seventh Wave, Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, and beyond. They hold a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley and have also published critical essays in scholarly journals. Currently, Tala serves as a first reader for Split This Rock and editor for Ideas on Fire as well as a 2023 Creative Capital Award fellow. This is Tala’s first children’s book.
Artist
Saiyare Refaei (they/them/she/her) is a Chinese Iranian artist based in the occupied lands of the Puyallup people (Tacoma, Washington). They have been a community artist making public art since 2013. Their mediums include community murals, printmaking, digital drawings and poetry. They enjoy working collaboratively and being a conduit to visualize the stories that need to be told in our communities.
They are a member of Justseeds Artist Cooperative and strive to utilize art as a means of community building, education and healing. Saiyare has been published in “We Need at Reckoning: Poetry, Essays, and Memoir by Women and Non-Binary People of Color” (published by Blue Cactus Press) and illustrated the accompanying workbook for “Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care” by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba (published by Haymarket Books). You can find more of their work at https://justseeds.org/artist/saiyarerefaei/ or on instagram @_saikick_.
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