Short version :
Myriam Dahman is a Belgian-Moroccan author. She works in sustainable development and the fight against climate change and also writes Children’s Book. She has published The Wolf’s Secret (Orchard Books) and serveral books in France. Her books have been translated in China, South Korea, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, and Russia. She currently lives in Paris.
Long version :
My name is Myriam Dahman, I was born and raised in Morocco, and moved to France aged 18 to study. Since then, I’ve lived in Barcelona, Shanghai, New York and the Caribbean. I now live in Paris, where I work as a Climate change expert in the French Development Agency while also writing Children books.
The Wolf’s Secret, published in october 2020, is my first Picture Book in the UK. Nicolas and I wrote it in 2014, and it was actually the very first children story I ever wrote. It was a long and bumpy road, and we received many (many) rejection letters. But we were lucky enough to also meet incredible people along the way, who believed in this story- our agent Helen Boyle and our editor Emily Lamm at Orchard Books – and it all paid off in the end.
The Wolf’s Secret is a dark and lyrical contemporary fairy tale about love and loneliness, with just a pinch of magic. It was born almost magically, as if it was waiting in the recesses of our subconscious. For this book, Julia has created a mysterious, mythical forest where the wolf almost diseapear in the rich darkness of leaf and earth.
Deep in a forest, a wolf becomes entranced with a young woman singing. One day, however, the young woman’s father dies and she stops singing altogether. Missing the enchanting song, the wolf goes on a quest. But is he prepared to sacrifice his own true nature in order for his wish to come true?
In the meantime, I have written other books that were published in France (but are not translated in the UK). I also regularly write stories for a Children’s Philosophy Magazine called Philéas and Autobule.
Nicolas and I wrote another dark fairy tale, especially for Julia, called « Leina and the Lord of the Toadstools« . It’s not a sequel to « The Wolf’s Secret« , but the story could take place in the same strange and magical universe.
The book tells the story of Leina, a young woman who owns the only boat in town. She ferries townsfolk over to the forest where they chop trees and hunt animals. But everyone in the town fears the forest and not everyone who goes in comes back out again… When Leina’s friend, Oren, doesn’t return, she goes on a mission to find him. She meets the mysterious Mr Spadefoot who introduces himself as The Lord of the Toadstools. She accepts his invitation for dinner in his underground palace and there she discovers the secret of the forest and the mystery of the missing townsfolk…
The book will be published in october 2022.
For UK clients please contact Helen Boyle at Pickled ink : helen@pickledink.com