Blending traditional Iranian mythology with miniature-inspired art, Fatemeh Zoobinparan’s debut

picture book Gordafarid and the Scent of Jasmine is a bold, modern tale of courage and resistance

against the oppressive forces of greed and evil. Inspired by Persian miniatures and the visual

traditions of medieval and early modern storytelling, it follows the struggle of a community against

a Terrible Deev, a demon from the underworld. Rooted in Persian cosmology of light versus

darkness, the tale reimagines recent political events in Iran and the symbolic haircutting of the