Jade Meitre, a writer from Australia, was inspired by the drawings of Ukrainian kids and wrote the fairy tale Ukraine Space Hotel. The book has been published in Australia and translated into Ukrainian.
The NGO “Association Noosphere” has been holding the Noosphere Space Art Challenge children’s drawing competition on the space theme for four years in a row. More than 30,000 children have participated in it over four years. This year, the competition was disrupted by the war, but the organizers, NGO “Association Noosphere”, decided do what they could to keep supporting Ukrainian children. They asked Australian writer Jade Meitre to translate some of her space stories into Ukrainian in order to inspire kids and distract them from horrible news.
Meitre explored the archive of children’s pictures and felt the inspiration to write book especially for these kids. This was how she created Ukraine Space Hotel, a story about children’s dreams and how they become reality. This book aims to support Ukrainian children and to return the word “rocket” back to its proper peaceful context.
«If there was this kind of a hotel, it must belong to the children: the children of Ukraine, and the children all around the world who wanted to share their dreams and inspiration with them. And the book emerged from that idea of having an inclusive, inspirational place belonging only to children, for them and by them, where they can forge a new future in their dreams», – Jade Meitre said.
The book includes 427 children’s drawings from all over Ukraine. In Australia, the book was published by Storyberries. It was translated into Ukrainian by the “Association Noosphere”. You can read the book for free on the organization’s web page: https://noospherespace.art/UkrainianSpaceHotel
A hard copy can be purchased from the online store. All proceeds from the sales will go towards social projects and initiatives for displaced people.