The BarmaKIDS: "The Real Jafar"
By Siobhan Templeton, October 2024
I am a teacher and children’s writer and when the Invisible East director, Arezou Azad (whom I had met at the Oxford Bach Choir), told me about the stories in her academic translation with Pejman Firoozbakhsh of Zia al-Din Barani’s Akhbār-i Barmakiyān (due to be published next year), I was thrilled, and decided to convert them into children's stories for 9-13 year olds.
When Arezou and Pejman's translation arrived in my inbox, it was an exciting moment. If you are reading this blog, you will no doubt be familiar with the Barmakids and their world, but this was mostly new to me. I had spent Lockdowns delving into the Greek Myths and stories with my own children and these were every bit as vibrant and compelling. Here was heroism, friendship, power, social climbing, treachery, gold. So much gold! Stories of ‘trembling gems’ (just those two words together, a gift for a children’s writer), ostrich traders, married lovers forbidden to consummate their marriage, musicians and poets weaving spells with music and words. As with all good stories that stand the test of time, these characters reach out to the modern reader to reflect something about the human condition (not to mention the fact that many of them are very funny). I felt sure that children would love them.
I have chosen twenty stories out of about seventy-five and, threading them around the wonderful story of Jafar and his friendship with caliph Harun al-Rashid I have tried to convey the gilt and grain of the original stories.
The project has taken many twists and turns but we are hoping to collaborate with Lantana Publishing - an award winning publishing company specialising in high-quality stories for children from around the world. Our target audience will be 7-12 year olds although the stories can be enjoyed by all ages. I am sure the readers will be as excited to discover this treasure trove of stories from the past as I was.
About the author:
Siobhan Templeton is a school teacher and children's writer and lives in Oxford. She is preparing a children's book on Ja'far the Barmakid.
READ part 2 of the blog here.
About the listing image:
The image is a sketch made by Nicolas Oberlin for Invisible East, including characters drawn by Emily Selove.
