This short, gentle, almost meditative picture book invites the readers to take their time and look both around them and inside themselves. It is actually a series of questions, from the (seemingly) simple, to the deep and complex, with all of them relating, in one way or another, to our essence and our place in the world and the universe. The readers should find their own answers, the author does enough already by asking questions we would maybe never ask ourselves -- either because of a lack of time, or because they would have never even crossed our minds.

"Where does the sun follow the moon and winks at her endlessly? Where are they running, both yearning, to secretly sit down for tea?"

Marta Bartolj was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, in 1979. After graduating from the Arthouse College of Visual Arts, Ljubljana, in 2011, she pursued her postgraduate master’s studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana, where she immersed herself in illustration. The wordless book she made for her final project before earning her master’s degree in 2016 won a student award of the University of Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design. The book, the first one she authored, was published as ‘Kje si?’ (‘Where Are You?’) by Miš Publishing in 2018, and received a special prize as an outstanding wordless picture book at the 2018 Kristina Brenkova Awards. Marta loves to put on her illustrator’s shoes – they are the ones she feels most comfortable in.
Awards:
student award of the University of Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design for the wordless book Kje si?
special prize of Kristina Brenkova Award for the outstanding wordless picture book Kje si?