Tatia Nadareischwili

Tatia Nadareishvili was born in Tbilisi in 1988. She studied illustration and graphic design at the local Academy of Arts and then worked as a drawing teacher and children’s art therapist. She has been working as a freelance illustrator since 2009 and has been publishing her own picture books since 2011. From 2009 to 2016, she was a member of Tbilisi Book Art Center. In 2016, she founded the Label Illustrator with a studio and concept store. She has showcased her artistic work in several group exhibitions in Georgia.

She became known outside her home country with the book »Dsili nebissa« [2017; Eng. »Sleep Like Me«, 2021], which has been translated into several languages. The book is about a boy who can’t sleep and therefore goes for a short walk. On his way, he meets a wide variety of animals, from giraffes to koalas to sperm whales. They all wear pajamas, and they each have a good tip for him: that he should tuck his head under his armpit, says the bird. The sloth suggests that he should hang on the tree with his hands and feet. The boy tries it. But sleep remains far off…

»Bambukis tewrschi« [2020], another book by Tatia Nadareishvili is now available in German translation under the name »Tina hat Mut« [2020]. Based on her own childhood memories, she tells the story of a girl named Tinatin, called Tina, who lives with her parents and their red dog Poppy in a Georgian village. Normally, Tina prefers to explore the world with her father. When he goes on a long trip, he leaves her a spinning top that she can use to pass the time by always running in the direction the top is pointing. When Tina tries the game, the spinning top points to the dense bamboo forest behind the house. Until then, the girl had not yet dared to enter this forest. But she summons up all her courage and sets off. A little later, she meets and befriends the boy Kosta in the forest. And soon the forest is no longer a stranger to her. In the minimalist setting, designed with a mixed technique of drawings, monotypes and stencils, many elements of Georgian culture are exposed, for example the wooden house on stilts typical of rural areas or the buried clay pot in which wine is kept. In its enthusiastic review, the »FAZ« spoke of »a picture book that is as cleverly staged as it is sensual«. The book took second place at the Troisdorf Children’s Book Prize 2021.

Tatia Nadareishvili lives in Tbilisi.

Date: 2022

Schlaf gut

Baobab Books
Basel, 2017
[Ü: Rachel Gratzfeld]

Tina hat Mut

Baobab Books
Basel, 2020
[Ü: Rachel Gratzfeld]