Storyteller Anahita Tamaddon centers Tajik-Persian narratives in Children’s Books — Muse Factory
The author just released The Immigrant Girl’s Garden and has her eyes set on her next project titled Fereydoon and the Serpent King.
Children’s Book Author and Illustrator Anahita Tamaddon describes herself as a “cultural nomad.” Tamaddon was born in Soviet-Tajikistan and hails from the country’s capital, Dushanbe. Like several other former-Soviet nations, Tajikistan experienced a civil war in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse. In October of 1992, Tamaddon left her native home as a refugee at the age of 17 and has called Berkeley, California home ever since. Tamaddon also holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Berkeley.
“I left, but in my dreams, I almost always find myself in Dushanbe and it is fall season all over again with trees golden and red,” said Tamaddon. “I guess in that way, I never left and part of my hometown goes with me wherever I go.”
While Tajikistan has a post-Soviet reputation, often sidelined and overlooked in western nations like the United States as one of “the stans,” it is a country with a rich cultural heritage, once at the heart of the old Silk Road. Tajiki, the official language, is a form of Persian written in the Cyrillic alphabet. While much of the country also speaks Russian as a result of its Soviet past, the people are proud of their Tajik-Persian heritage, which includes traditions like Nowruz, the Persian New Year and Spring Festival, which recently took place at the Spring Equinox.
Many of Tamaddon’s books center on important Persian festivals like Nowruz or Yalda Night, which takes place on the winter solstice, while others highlight immigrant narratives which speak to Tamaddon’s own experiences as a teenage girl learning to cope with displacement while adjusting to life in a new country.
“When you are an immigrant in your forties, you are like а mosaic,” said Tamaddon. “Some pieces have writings in one language, others in another. Some are depictions of the cities you’ve lived in, some others reflect the variety of traditions and cultural traits, like different cuisines, and celebrations you were not born to but grew to love while exploring the world.”
Tamaddon writes and illustrates each of her books and finds the artistic process meditative. Many of her books are hand-painted using watercolors, gouache, and acrylics. While she had her start in more traditional mediums, Tamaddon has also been experimenting with digital illustration and is creating her next book, “Fereydoon and the Serpent King,” entirely in Procreate. The book is based on poet Ferdowsi’s Persian epic, The Shahnameh or “The Book of Kings,” an ancient book of pre-Islamic Persian mythology and folklore.
“While I am keeping the storyline intact, I am also going in-depth with the emotions of a young boy who discovers that he does not possess his father’s strength,” said Tamaddon.
While Fereydoon and the Serpent King is her newest project, Tamaddon most personal work is the recently-published The Immigrant Girl’s Garden, a book she wrote and illustrated during much of 2020, while she was at home quarantining with her family. The book tells the story of a young girl, Parvina, who loses her grandmother and her home in an earthquake and decides to travel the world in search of a garden as beautiful as her grandmother’s.
The story touches on themes Tamaddon experienced in her own life as an immigrant, such as change and one’s capacity to find happiness and love after loss. According to Tamaddon, much of the book is filled with personal memories and the destinations Parvina travels to are drawn from Tamaddon’s own memories of cities she’s visited.
“Film director Krzysztof Kieślowski, writers Françoise Sagan and Margret Atwood had a profound effect on me when I was a young girl,” said Tamaddon. “I find it fascinating that I never met any of them, yet the truths of the stories they tell in their films or novels shaped the story I tell myself about who I am. Beliefs are so powerful. That’s why I’m a children’s book writer. Children’s beliefs are still flexible.”
Tamaddon also draws inspiration from other sources and artists, such as Bobur Ismoilov, Aleksei Dmitriev, Assol Sas, Paolo Domeniconi, Pejman Rahimizadeh, and others. Though some of Tamaddon’s books are bilingual and include Persian, they are mostly written in English and thus offer up experiences, traditions and lessons that aren’t always centered in most books written in English. A few of Tamaddon’s other notable works include Soraya’s Nowruz Dance, The Princess Warrior, Yalda Night, and The Meaning of Nowruz.
Books that showcase Persian and Tajik traditions are few and far between, and while there has been a push to include more diverse narratives in fiction overall, many immigrant communities still lack representation. Tamaddon’s books offer Central Asian and Middle Eastern parents a way to pass on their traditions to a new English-speaking generation while learning other important life lessons along the way.
“My son once told me, ‘it is so cool that you get to explain to children what parents want to tell them but don’t know how,’ and it’s very true,” Tamaddon said.
Her work is distinct for its imaginative and whimsical drawings. Her characters are often seen wearing traditional clothing, playing Central Asian instruments, and learning dances unique to the region. Her work features fantastical lands and mythological creatures though it’s also grounded in a sort of reality that children can relate to, real experiences Tamaddon’s had and emotions she’s felt.
“I suppose imagination has always been a way to escape the feeling of limitations so many of us experience in childhood and get used to in adulthood,” Tamaddon said. “I wanted to be free and imagination allowed for endless possibilities and it still does.”
For more information on Anahita Tamaddon’s books, please visit her Amazon page as well as her Instagram and Facebook pages.
Originally published at https://musefactorymag.com on January 18, 2021.
