AKIARA was born in Barcelona in February 2018. Our name plays with the expression ‘here and now ’ (‘aquí i ara’ in Catalan), and with the Japanese name Akira 明, meaning ‘bright ’.
We publish beautifully illustrated books, working from scratch with the authors and illustrators.
Our books, through inspiring texts and illustrations, aim to kindle a sense of wonder in children and teenagers. Our topics include nature and ecology; justice and human rights; mind, body and spirit, and tales of wisdom from other cultures.
We work with sustainability criteria, minimizing the environmental impact through eco-publishing.
All of our books are published simultaneously in Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese. They have received many international awards and have been already translated into 20 languages.
Our catalog includes 7 series:
· picture boks for all ages AKIALBUM
· beautifully printed poetry books AKIPOETA
· fiction books for teenagers AKINARRA
· inspirational speeches for teenagers and young adults AKIPARLA
· real-life stories for teenagers and young adults AKIVIDA
· non-fiction books about the wonders of the world AKIWOW
· silent books for the little ones AKIMIRA
For more information, please contact our enthusiastic agent, Véronique Kirchhoff, who represents and loves our books: vero@verokagency.com.
Inês Castel-Branco ines@akiarabooks.com
A LANDSCAPE A BLOSSOM
Inês Castel-Branco Neus Caamaño
NON-FICTION
Flowers are marvellous beings, rooted to the earth and orientated towards the sky. They unfold in meadows and on mountains, in lakes and in ponds, in woods and in jungles, on the branches of trees and on the sides of roads, on sand and in the middle of the desert.
Each one is intrinsically linked to a specific place, a kind of soil and climate, all of which have forged its personality and made it what it is. When they cluster together, flowers create a unique landscape imbued with white, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue…
If we pause for a moment to contemplate them, we will realise that they are one of nature’s most delicate and surprising gifts, a mirror in which to find ourselves and re-discover who we are. And every flower is a work of art, a miracle, a wonder of the intelligence of life. Every flower fills the world with beauty!
With illustrations that capture the essence of each landscape and each flower, this book is a journey through the colours and extraordinary characteristics of thirty very special flowers from all over the world.
72 pages 25 x 16,5 cm hardcover 8+ years Mar. 2025 18,50 €
THE WISDOM OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Josep Maria Mallarach Verónica Fabregat
NON-FICTION
Indigenous peoples are the primordial peoples. Many of them are still alive today, in a wide range of ecosystems. They are the most deeply rooted and enduring societies. But in many places, they face serious threats.
Their lands shelter the greatest biodiversity in the world. They are true masters of sustainability. They speak complex languages and preserve a wealth of traditions and knowledge. Their ancestral wisdom embraces all dimensions of existence, both visible and invisible, and is a great source of inspiration for our societies in crisis.
· 2025 The BRAW Amazing Bookshelf Sustainability
72 pages 23 x 15 cm softcover 7+ years Sep. 2024 18,50 €
FLOCK OF CLOUDS
Irma Borges Mo Gutiérrez Serna
Have you ever wondered what clouds are made of? What do they look like? What do they taste like? How do they change shape? Why do they break up?
This colle ction of poems invites us to take a contemplative look at nature and marvel at the changing forms of all that we find in the sky and on the earth.
Black, white or bright-colored clouds. Clouds of leaves, of flowers, of fruits, of wheat, of starlings, of fish. And clouds of thoughts or silences.
POETRY
SPECIAL POETRY FORMAT EXPOSED SMYTH SEWING
64 pages 16,5 x 28,5 cm softcover 5+ years
Mar. 2025
16,50 €
· 2025 The BRAW Amazing Bookshelf Sustainability
PLANTING THE WORLD
Javier Sobrino Concha Pasamar
We must plant, plant in the plains, plant in the mountains, plant in the valleys, plant even in the deserts. Fill the earth with trees. We must plant the world.
SUSTAINABILITY
40 pages
16,5 x 28,5 cm softcover
5+ years
Oct. 2024
16,50 €
POETRY
THE WALNUT TREE
PICTURE BOOK
One afternoon in November, a very strong wind came and uprooted the walnut tree from the school. Its destiny seemed to be the chainsaw, the firewood, the fire. But the will of a little girl changed everything forever.
This tr ue story, which took place in a village in Asturias, is told here by the walnut tree itself. It reminds us that life can always sprout again.
48 pages 28 x 24 cm hardcover 5+ years Mar. 2024 15,00 €
Gonzalo Moure Araiz Mesanza
SO SIMPLE
Alex Nogués María Elina
PICTURE BOOK
Life floods all around us in an infinity of shapes, colors, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes. We have countless opportunities to be amazed, to know that all is new and eternal at the very same time. The nest, the flower, the other, love.
Wouldn't it be sad to go through life without these meetings and experiences?
40 pages 28 x 24 cm hardcover 5+ years Oct. 2024 15,00 €
LET’S PLAY IN THE SNOW
Verónica Fabregat
A book without words. An awakening in white. Seven friends go out into the snow. They take coats, skis, sledges. They build snowmen and walls. They fall, get wet, get lost. An intense morning with a happy ending.
SILENT BOOK
LET’S SERIES OF SILENT BOOKS FOR THE FOUR STATIONS
40 pages 20 x 20 cm hardcover 2+ years Oct. 2024 16,50 €
LET’S PLAY HIDE AND SEEK
Verónica Fabregat
LET’S GO TO THE BEACH
SPRING SUMMER
A book without words. A popular game. Seven friends in the forest. One thousand corners to explore. Meanwhile, it gets dark. A kid doesn’t turn up. A little adventure with a happy ending.
· 2023 Cuatrogatos Foundation Award (Recommended)
Verónica Fabregat
A book without words. Seven friends go to the beach. They get bicycles, backpacks, and towels ready. They cross a pine forest, a wetland, a sandy area. They play, fish, enjoy the sun. There is a child who does not appear. A little journey with a happy ending.
· 2024 Cuatrogatos Foundation Award (Recommended)
FORCED TO LEAVE SIX
REAL-LIFE STORIES OF MIGRANT PEOPLE
Laia de Ahumada Cinta Fosch
This illustrated book shows six stories from real life, six journeys full of difficulties and challenges. Six migrants, three women and three men, tell us about their lives before leaving; why they had to leave, how they managed to complete their journey, and how they live nowadays in their new country.
These are stories of self-improvement, but also of pain, loneliness, hospitality, and integration. Stories that, despite everything, end well.
These real-life accounts invite us to change our perspective, and to give a name and a face to the experience of so many people who are forced to risk their lives in the search for a more promising future.
NON-FICTION
MIGRATIONS
88 pages 16,5 x 23,5 cm softcover 12+ years Mar. 2024 18,50 €
· 2024 “Los Mejores” del Banco del Libro (Venezuela)
· 2022 Best Published Books from Spain
·
40 pages
(20 illustrations + 20 texts)
16,5 x 27,5 cm
(3 metres long!)
tubular folding
THANK YOU, MOTHER EARTH!
Vanina Starkoff
The Thanksgiving Address of the Haudenosaunee is much more than a poem, a speech, or a prayer: it is a great song of greeting and gratitude for all living beings. It has been recited collectively in the morning over centuries, in a territory that embraces part of the United States and Canada. It is also an inventory of the natural world, in which each element of the ecosystem is given thanks for its contribution to the prodigy of life. We must pay pecial attention to the original format.
