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2026 SPRING CATALOG

Books shining with their own light

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 more than 20 languages.

Our catalog includes 7 series:

· picture books for the little ones AKIMIRA

· inspiring picture books for all ages AKIALBUM

· poetic picture books on the details of life AKIPOETA

· non-fiction books about the wonders of the world AKIWOW

· fiction books for teenagers AKINARRA

· inspirational speeches for teenagers and young adults AKIPARLA

· real-life stories for teenagers and young adults AKIVIDA

For more information, please contact our enthusiastic agent, Véronique Kirchhoff, who represents and loves our books: vero@verokagency.com.

Inês Castel-Branco CEO and Publisher ines@akiarabooks.com

LET’S GO TO THE FOREST

Verónica Fabregat

A book without words. A splendid autumn day. Seven friends venture into the forest. They cross streams, and climb trees. They gather chestnuts, pumpkins, mushrooms. When it rains, they splash in puddles. They get back home full of joy.

LET’S SERIES FOR THE 4 STATIONS

40 pages 20 x 20 cm hardcover 2+ years Oct. 2025 18,50 €

PICTURE BOOK

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.

TWO VERSIONS NOW AVAILABLE: · SILENT BOOKS · WITH TEXT

PICTURE BOOK

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)

36 pages · 20 x 20 cm hardcover · 2+ years March 2022 · 18,50 €

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)

40 pages · 20 x 20 cm hardcover · 2+ years June 2023 · 18,50 €

· 2022 Best Published Books from Spain

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.

· 2024 Bologna Ragazzi Awards (Special Mention Fiction)

3+ METRES LONG LEPORELLO

40 pages

(20 illustrations + 20 texts)

16,5 x 27,5 cm

(3 metres long!)

tubular folding

3+ years

Nov. 2022

19,50 €

NATIVE WISDOM

2º Premio Libros Mejor Editados 2022

PICTURE BOOK

56 pages

16,5 x 28,5 cm softcover 9+ years March 2026

16,50 €

VOLATILE

Alex Nogués

Elena Mompó

Sometimes, a poem arrives unannounced. The poet stumbles upon it. The poet doesn’t know how to contain it — or doesn’t want to. Dives in it. Allows the words to arrive. Enjoys the luck of being alive. And flies.

Volatile is a collection of free-verse poems about nature, alive and enchanting. Fields, beaches, and nights are displayed here with unique brushstrokes.

PICTURE BOOK

48 pages

16,5 x 28,5 cm softcover 5+ years March 2026

16,50 €

AT HOME

M. Carmen Aznar Raquel Catalina

With a playful gaze, the protagonist of these poems explores every corner of her home and discovers many surprises: An igloo in the kitchen, a witch’s pantry, ghosts on the clothesline, talkative shirts, a transforming table, and a bed for secrets.

How many wonders will you find at home?

SPECIAL POETRY FORMAT EXPOSED SMYTH SEWING

PICTURE BOOK

· 2025 The BRAW Amazing Bookshelf Sustainability

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.

40 pages

16,5 x 28,5 cm

BACKLIST

BIRDHEART

Mar Benegas

Rachel Caiano

64 pages · 16,50 x 27,50 cm

· 2022 Bologna Ragazzi Awards (Special Mention Poetry)

U NDER THE STONES

Arianna Squilloni

Laia Domènech

56 pages · 16,50 x 27,50 cm

HAIKU TIME

J.N.Santaeulàlia

Luciano Lozano

72 pages · 16,50 x 27,50 cm

· 2022 Best Published Books from Spain

PICTURE BOOKS

A FARMHOUSE

Alex Nogués

Alba Azaola

68 pages · 16,50 x 27,50 cm

· 2023 Cuatrogatos Foundation Award (Miami)

THE GARDEN YOU LIVE IN

M. Carmen Aznar

Raquel Catalina

40 pages · 16,50 x 27,50 cm

THE SONG OF KNOCK, THE BIRD

Fran Pintadera

Anna Font

56 pages · 16,50 x 27,50 cm

· 2024 The White Ravens

· 2025 Cuatrogatos

Foundation Award (Miami)

· 2025-26 Atrapallibres Award Finalist (Catalonia)

· 2023-24 Atrapallibres Award Finalist (Catalonia)

A LITTLE SEED

Mar Benegas

Neus Caamaño

18 pages (leporello) 16,50 x 27,50 cm

· 2022 “ Los Mejores” del Banco del Libro (Venezuela)

FLOCK OF CLOUDS

Irma Borges

Mo Gutiérrez Serna

64 pages · 16,50 x 27,50 cm

THE WISDOM OF THE CLASSICS

Jordi Rincón Núria Solsona

NON-FICTION

This book presents the fascinating world of the classics through thirty aphorisms that have lasted through the ages, accompanied by evocative illustrations inspired by the Mediterranean landscape. Faced with the temptations of greed, envy, laziness, and pride, the ancient Greeks and Romans championed self-knowledge, effort, honesty, accepting one’s limits, the will to learn, hope and true friendship.

The author, having devoted his professional life to guiding teenagers into the thought and beauty of the ancient world, answers questions of our time and invites us to cultivate the best of human nature.

72 pages

25 x 16,5 cm hardcover

14+ years March 2026

18,50 €

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 March 2025 18,50 €

BACKLIST

REDISCOVERING THE WORLD

Jordi Pigem

Neus Caamaño

72 pages · 23 x 15 cm

SOMETIMES THE FOREST...

Alex Nogués

Ina Hristova

72 pages · 23 x 15 cm

· 2025 The BRAW Amazing Bookshelf Sustainability

THE BEACH OF THE USELESS

Alex Nogués

Bea Enríquez

80 pages · 12 x 20 cm

· 2020 The White Ravens

SAILOR ON LAND

Laia de Ahumada

Gemma Capdevila

64 pages · 12 x 20 cm

· 2020 The White Ravens (Recommended)

THE WISDOM OF NATIVE PEOPLES

Josep Maria Mallarach

Verónica Fabregat

72 pages · 23 x 15 cm

· 2025 The BRAW Amazing Bookshelf Sustainability

FICTION

THE CONDOR’S GRANDSON FROM THE ANDES TO BARCELONA

Jesús Ballaz

Quim Amate

184 pages · 12 x 20 cm

· 2021 New York Public Library Best Books

AUNIA THE LONGING FOR FREEDOM OF A YOUNG IBERIAN WOMAN

Ivan Vera

364 pages · 13 x 21 cm

· 2021 The White Ravens

· 2021 Llibreter Award (Catalan Booksellers)

SPEECHES FOR TEENS

MALALA YOUSAFZAI

My Story is the Story of Many Girls

Clara Fons Duocastella

Yael Frankel

80 pages · 12 x 20 cm

WANGARI MAATHAI

Planting Trees, Seeding Ideas

Laia de Ahumada

Vanina Starkoff

80 pages · 12 x 20 cm

SI’AHL / TED PERRY

Every Part of this Earth is Sacred to My People

Jordi Pigem

Neus Caamaño

64 pages · 12 x 20 cm

SEVERN CULLIS-SUZUKI

Make Your Actions

Reflect Your Words

Alex Nogués

Ana Suárez

56 pages · 12 x 20 cm

STEVE JOBS

Have the Courage to Follow Your Intuition

Fran Pintadera

Matías Acosta

72 pages · 12 x 20 cm

JANE GOODALL

Learning From The Chimpanzees

Irene Duch-Latorre

Joan Negrescolor

80 pages · 12 x 20 cm

JOSÉ MUJICA

I Am From The South, I Come From The South. Where the Atlantic Meets the River Plate

Dolors Camats

Guridi

64 pages · 12 x 20 cm

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Must I Argue the Wrongfulness of Slavery?

Arianna Squilloni

Cinta Fosch

80 pages · 12 x 20 cm

I SLEEP ON THE STREETS

SIS TESTIMONIES BY HOMELESS PEOPLE

Laia de Ahumada

Cinta Fosch

With this book, we want to explain what living on the streets is like, and what could bring a person to live there. We want to show the backgrounds of violence, abandonment, loneliness; the loss of self-esteem, dignity, and hope suffered by the people who live on the streets. And we also want to ascertain whether it’s possible to get off the streets, how to do it and why it’s so difficult. Two women and four men who don’t have decent housing tell us what their lives were like before; why and how they lost the house where they lived and what their current lives on the streets are like.

HOMELESSNESS

These are stories full of pain and injustice, but also full of solidarity and forgiveness. The testimonies that we present invite us to change our perspective, shatter prejudices and rethink how we relate to people who have lost everything.

NON-FICTION

· 2025 The White Ravens

· 2025 Junceda Award (Spain)

· 2025 BLIP Award (Spain)

· 2024 “Los Mejores” del Banco del Libro (Venezuela)

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.

MIGRATIONS

¿WHY DO WE DREAM?

Fran Pintadera Ana Sender

PICTURE BOOK

“Why do we dream?” the teacher asks in the class. And Noah tells her about desires, discoveries, creations, magic, and freedom. This poetic illustrated album reminds us of the importance of daydreaming — because dreams help us move forward on our path and have the power to transform this world into another… possible one.

From the same authors of: WHY DO WE CRY? WHY ARE WE AFRAID?

Sold into 14 languages!

WEEDS

Ángeles Quinteros

Karina Cocq

· 2026 Cuatrogatos Foundation Award (Recommended)

PICTURE BOOK

It was the weeds around a house. It was a girl inside that house. The weeds wanted to get in. The girl wanted to get out.

So begins a story about weeds that sprout in the garden of a house; about a girl who dares to break the rules, goes out, and learns to observe and name each weed by its properties... and about a father who realised that none of them needed permission to bloom.

LITTLE ONE, MOTHER, GRANDMOTHER

María Sender Ana Sender

· 2026 Cuatrogatos Foundation Award (Recommended)

PICTURE BOOK

Grandmother sings stories, tells songs. Her fingers are like branches, dancing and weaving the characters of her stories, which remain intertwined in the quilt. There is hardly any room left for more stories in the quilt...

“One, two, three,” whispers grandmother, counting as she weaves. One, two, three, my girl, my love, my little dove. One, two, three, Little One, Mother, Grandmother. One, two, three, the three of us, my life. One, two, three, the three of us who are all. This story is a tribute from two granddaughters to their grandmother. It is a song to generational transmission and the legacy of women who keep folk wisdom alive.

THE WALNUT TREE

Gonzalo Moure Araiz Mesanza

· 2026 Cuatrogatos Foundation Award © Rights sold: Portuguese (for Brazil)

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.

WHY DO WE CRY?

Fran Pintadera

Ana Sender

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2019 Junceda Award (Spain)

· “ The Best of 2018” La Central Award (Spain)

© Rights sold: English (for North America), French (for North America and France), Italian, Greek, Danish, Portuguese (for Brazil), German, Russian, Polish, Serbian, Turkish, Japanese, Traditional Chineseç & Korean

WHY ARE WE AFRAID?

Fran Pintadera

Ana Sender

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

14 LANGUAGES!

BREATHE

Inês Castel-Branco

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

17 EDITIONS IN SPANISH!

THE DROP OF WATER BASED ON A ESSAY BY RAIMON PANIKKAR

Inês Castel-Branco

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2020 “Los Mejores” del Banco del Libro (Venezuela)

VERBENA AND HUMMINGBIRD

Fran Pintadera

Ana Sender

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2024 Cuatrogatos Foundation Award (Recommended)

WITH YOUR HANDS

Elena Bernabè

Alba Azaola

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

HARU’S SCHOOL

Flavia Company

Luciano Lozano

48 pages · 28 x 24 cm

ARE YOU RAINING OR SHINING?

Mireia Vidal

Anna Font

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2020 Serra d’Or Award (Spain)

TANCHO

Luciano Lozano

48 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2023 Cuatrogatos Foundation Award (Finalist)

· 2023 Hans Christian Andersen Award (Finalist)

· 2023 Les Incorruptibles Award (Finalist)

LINES OF DREAMS

Rita Sineiro

Laia Domènech

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2022 Llibreter Award (Catalan Booksellers)

· 2023 Iberian Award Álvaro Magalhães Finalist (Portugal)

· 2023 António Torrado Award (Portugal)

PICTURE BOOKS

A BOY ON THE BEACH

Luciano Lozano

48 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2024 “Los Mejores” del Banco del Libro (Venezuela)

· 2025 Cuatrogatos Foundation Award (Recommended)

CLOUDS IN THE HEAD

Elena Val

48 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2021 Junceda Award (Spain)

WHERE IS THE MOON?

Jordi Amenós

Albert Arrayás

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

WHERE DO IDEAS COME FROM?

Jordi Amenós

Albert Arrayás

48 pages · 28 x 24 cm

THE TWO WOLVES

Wilfred

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

TALES OF NASRUDIN

Halil Bárcelona

Mariona Cabassa

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2016 Serra d’Or Award (Spain)

THE COMING AND GOING DAY

Alain Allard

Mariona Cabassa

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2017 Junceda Award (Spain)

THE OTHER SIDE

Cristina Falcón Maldonado

Mariona Cabassa

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

THE SIXTH SENSE

Laia de Ahumada

Mercè López

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

YOGA

Míriam Raventós

Maria Girón

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

THE AWAKENING OF THE TREE

Dídac P. Lagarriga

Albert Asensio

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

TAO

FRAGMENTS OF MASTER

LAOZI’S PHILOSOPHY

Manel Ollé

Neus Caamaño

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

IN THE DARK

Halil Bárcelona

Laura Borràs Dalmau

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

SO SIMPLE

Alex Nogués

María Elina

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

THE

TIGHTROPE WALKER

Àlex Tovar

Àfrica Fanlo

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2016 Best Published Books from Spain

YOUR SONG

Inês Castel-Branco

María Ella Carrera

32 pages · 28 x 24 cm

JATAKAS

SIX BUDDHIST TALES

Marta Millà

Rebeca Luciani

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

THE BIG JUMP

Núria Parera

Carolina Luzón

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

PARCO

Alex Nogués

Guridi

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

THE PATH

Mario Satz

Yara Kono

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

THE FEATHER

Mario Satz

Maria Beitia

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

DRIPPERLIPPER

Tina Vallès

Gabriel Salvadó

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

I HAVE A TOY TANK

Pere Martí i Bertran

Núria Tomàs Mayolas

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

MY PIRATE GRANPA

Laia Massons

Zuzanna Celej

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

· 2020 “Los Mejores” del Banco del Libro (Honourable Mention)

THE HEATHEN AND THE THREE WISE MEN BASED ON A ESSAY

BY RAMON LLULL

Ignasi Moreta

Àfrica Fanlo

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

THE SONG OF SILENCE

Nina da Lua

Gemma Capdevila

40 pages · 28 x 24 cm

BOLOGNA CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR

Hall 29, D8-E7

AKIARA books

Plaça del Nord 4, pral. 1ª 08024 Barcelona (Spain) www.akiarabooks.com ines@akiarabooks.com IG, X: @akiarabooks

Foreign Rights Véronique Kirchhoff vero@verokagency.com Books shining with their own

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