Nationwide — Open Hearts Huge Desires (OHBD) – Open Hearts Huge Desires (OHBD) began as a result of just a little lady named Leyla Angelidis dreamed of a world the place youngsters from her beginning nation of Ethiopia might get entry to a lot of stunning books, similar to she had dwelling in the US. Lately, one of many books that now-teenage Leyla Angelidis coauthored together with her mom, Ellenore Angelidis—Lovely Desires, illustrated by Nahosenay Negussie—has been nominated for inclusion on the Worldwide Board on Books for Younger Folks (IBBY) 2026 Honour Checklist of excellent books for younger folks globally.
Lovely Desires, which was nominated for “Greatest Illustration,” is a part of the OHBD High quality Artwork sequence, that includes advantageous artists from Ethiopia and different components of the world. The guide’s message is that little women can dream about changing into something they need to be—a dream that Leyla Angelidis holds for youngsters in every single place.
As Leyla Angelidis says, “I’m thrilled that extra youngsters in Ethiopia are attending to take pleasure in high quality books with beautiful artwork like Nahosenay’s and extra youngsters world wide are attending to study Ethiopia.”
As IBBY’s web site relates, “Essential issues in choosing the Honour Checklist titles are that the books are consultant of the very best in youngsters’s literature from the nation and that the books are appropriate for publication all through the world. The choice offers perception into the various cultural, political and social settings during which youngsters dwell and develop.” The books will likely be circulated at worldwide exhibitions and housed in a number of main cities. That is solely the second time that Ethiopia has been included on this record, solely the second time 4 of the 5 official Ethiopian languages, and the primary time the fifth, Afar Af, are represented.
IBBY Ethiopia additionally nominated ten different titles to the IBBY’s 2026 Honour Checklist, all obtainable in bilingual additions that function official Ethiopian languages, together with:
Watch, Pay attention, and Be taught (Amharic)Arms (Tigrinya)White-Winged Flufftails (Afaan Oromo)The Language of Dance (Somali)The Nice Rift Valley Lakes (Afar Af)Little Purple Cape (Amharic)When Was I Born? (Tigrinya)Once I was a Little one in Ethiopia (Afaan Oromo)The Little Snail (Somali)The Happiest Herder within the Land (Afar Af)
Moreover in 2025, two OHBD/Prepared Set Go books acquired honors on the thirtieth Worldwide Gourmand Awards in Portugal (for “Better of the 12 months 2024”). The True Story of Teff was listed as First in “Meals Books for Kids/Africa” and Fourth in “Bread Books.” The Artwork of Cooking was First in “Fund Elevating,” Second in each “Illustrations/Books” and “Bilingual with English,” and Fourth in “African Books.” Based in 1995, the Gourmand Awards are chosen annually from over 100,000 publications from 230 international locations and areas world wide. The awards have been in comparison with the Oscars for movie.
OHBD Founder and Government Director Ellenore Angelidis notes, “We’re thrilled to have extra writers, illustrators, translators, and a brand new writer represented amongst these honored titles. We work to symbolize a spread of tales, artwork types, and fiction and nonfiction books. We additionally embrace themes of conservation, peace, and inclusion.”
IBBY Ethiopia consultant Yoseph Ayelew shares, “I can’t stress sufficient how motivating these awards are for the studying promoters inside Ethiopia, who’ve restricted alternative to share with and study from the worldwide group. We are going to maintain one other award ceremony in Ethiopia in February 2026 to honor a broader phase of these concerned in creating high quality books as IBBY Ethiopia continues to develop their influence and attain, one step at a time.”
OHBD is a Seattle-based, not-for-profit group that’s devoted to growing literacy, inclusion, innovation readiness, and management abilities in Ethiopia and past. Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous nation, however tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals there are with out literacy abilities, and there’s a lack of adequate high quality, culturally related youngsters’s books within the native languages. The group sponsored the launch of IBBY Ethiopia as a brand new Nationwide Part of IBBY, becoming a member of in July 2023.
IBBY Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Nationwide Part, is concentrated on growing entry to high quality books and making a love of studying in Ethiopia. IBBY Ethiopia can also be selling a variety of tales, cultures and languages, 70-90 distinctive ones estimated, from throughout this huge nation.
The total number of OHBD titles may be discovered at
Nearly 1,200 of the titles are on OverDrive and at libraries and faculties across the globe:
For additional info:
• IBBY Ethiopia: www.ibby.org/ibby-worldwide/ibby-sections/ethiopia• IBBY Honour Checklist: www.ibby.org/awards-activities/awards/ibby-honour-list/
For press inquiries, contact:
IBBY Ethiopia: Yoseph Ayalew / telephone: +251-965-696-969 / +251-911-227-650
OHBD: Ellenore Angelidis / telephone: +1 425-295-8841 / ellenore@openheartsbigdreams.org
