I IS FOR IRAN

I is for Iran, a large country in western Asia bordered by many lands including Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the Caspian Sea above and the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea below. It is a country of contrasts, where high-rise city buildings stand beside ancient mosques, vast deserts sprawl alongside mountains and forests, and what was once the ancient Persian civilisation is now the oil-rich Islamic Republic of Iran. From Bazaar to Naan, from Chelo-kabab to Rugs, this book celebrates everything Iranians love best about their country. I is for Iran is the latest in the highly successful and widely recognised World Alphabet series, each of which is written and/or photographed by a national of the country.

Shirin Adl was born in Harlow. A little while later she left England for Iran where she grew up. In 1994, she went back to England and studied illustration at Loughborough University. Then at the New Designers exhibition in London she won the Hallmark M&S division Talented Designer Award. She has illustrated Pea Boy and Ramadan Moon. Kamyar Adl was born and brought up in Iran. After finishing school he spent a short while at Azad University studying photography but he soon left to do his military service in the desert near the Iran/Iraq border. He never went back to university but he did some photography jobs, one of which was taking photos of old doors and windows in downtown Tehran for a famous Iranian architect. Then at the age of 25 he married Shirin Adl and moved to England. Adl currently works at the BMW factory in Oxford. Both live in Oxford.