Ekaterine Tabliashvili | Georgia
This book is about a bird who slightly resembles a penguin - but definitely isn’t one. He feels anxious and misunderstood because everyone keeps calling him a penguin. That is, until he stumbles upon a magical Hall of Mirrors, where his reflection begins to shift and transform into all sorts of surprising shapes.
The idea came from an earlier picture book I created, titled Confused. Although the stories are different, the main character - the bird - is nearly the same. (I only made a few small changes to its design.) Confused was never published, but it was nominated in the international competition CCBF Golden Pinwheel in Shanghai in 2016, selected for The Unpublished Picturebook Showcase in 2019 and for the post-competition exhibition of CLAIRVOYANTS in Poland in 2021. Even though that project didn’t lead to publication, it gave me the courage to return to the character - and eventually gave the idea a second life in the form of this new story.
One thing that stood out back then was how often people would point to the cover and say, “Look, a penguin!” or “Let me see the penguin book.” Nearly everyone called the bird a penguin - despite its very un-penguin-like feet, tail, and body shape. At some point I stopped correcting them. So I came up with the idea that this bird could finally tell everyone he isn’t a penguin - and I really wanted him to do just that :).
I think this story turned out to be about exploring identity, self-acceptance, and the joy of simply being yourself.
While the illustrations are still in progress, they remain flexible - I’m open to making changes as new ideas come up. It still needs time to develop, but I think the idea behind the book is already clear.
Education:
Tbilisi State Academy of Arts
Graphic - Printmaking
Graduation: 2009
Published titles: 2