What can’t you find in Merkato, the open-air market near Piazza that is a city unto itself? A new children’s book, Spaced, follows the young Fekadu, a boy with his head in the clouds, as he finds an old motorcycle helmet and remakes it into a spacesuit, ready for a flight to the moon. While his mother admonishes Fekadu for his forgetfulness, he is busy soldering a rocket with other kids from the neighborhood.
Author Tej Rae collaborated with artist Tiemar Tegene to create illustrations that are rooted in reality but suggest another dimension where birds on a wire become helicopters beating their propellers above, or a piece of cardboard becomes a launch pad for a rocket. Five, four, three, two one…blast off!
The publication is a collaboration with Shamida, an inclusive children’s home that changes the lives of our city’s most vulnerable women and children. The story of a boy who dreams big and overcomes his limitations was a natural fit. All profits from Ethiopian sales of the book go to Shamida orphanage.
Spaced is for children ages 2 – 6. In English and Amharic.
Full-color illustrations by local artist Tiemar Tegene.
All profits from Ethiopian sales of the book go to Shamida orphanage.
For sale @ The Food Boutique, The Blue Hen and Chic Shega in Sarbet;
Zoma Museum and Entoto Artisans.
Contact hello@shamidaethiopia.com for tickets to the book launch on May 7th.
Tej Rae is the author of Sirens, a children’s book in English and Amharic about a little girl and a street dog, featured on BBC Amharic. Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, she has lived in Zambia, Senegal, Dubai, Rome, and now Ethiopia, where she collaborates with authors and illustrators to grow the local literary scene. You can order Sirens internationally at xx or follow her @tejraeauthor.
Tiemar Tegene is a visual artist born and raised in Addis Ababa. Her images are anchored in her training as a printmaker, though she is skilled in a wide range of media including children’s illustrations in pencil, ink, and watercolor. She has exhibited in New York, Nairobi, Marseilles, and Vilnius, Lithuania. You can follow her @timy_k.b.e.