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Jeddah - Yasmine El Tohamy - JEDDAH: A Saudi Arabia publishing house focused on works for children is utilizing passion and innovation to turn the page toward a “golden age of creativity” in the Kingdom.

Dar Waraqa is an award-winning company that creates aesthetically-pleasing books and products that reflect Saudi Arabia’s rich culture and heritage.

Layal Idriss, cofounder and creative director of Dar Waraqa, told Arab News during a recent interview: “Our vision revolves around continuing with the passion for creating innovative projects that will create the golden age of creativity locally and represent Saudi Arabia on the global creative publication scene.”

Idriss is a visual storyteller, entrepreneur and educator who has produced over 100 books and products over the past two decades. “I am proud to bring change and innovation to children's publishing in the MENA region by cofounding Dar Waraqa,” she said.

Idriss studied media arts and animation as an undergraduate and earned a master’s degree in fine arts from California State University, specializing in illustration.

After graduating, she taught at her alma mater from 2014 to 2021. Last year she was selected for a Women in Innovation Fellowship at Georgetown University.

Idriss is challenging the status quo of creative entrepreneurship by focusing on the importance of culturally rich products and books tailor-made for children.

“I am constantly working on evolving my storytelling skills by participating in residencies and exhibits that promote experimental and innovative storytelling methods,” she said.

Driven by her own childhood love for reading, she aims to create a library that will inspire future generations and believes that Arab children deserve high-quality art and innovative storytelling where they see themselves as heroes.

Dar Waraqa, or “House of Paper,” is based in Jeddah and offers publishing and distribution services to clients worldwide. It was founded in 2019 by Idriss and her husband Mohammed Hasanain when she had noticed that clients at her creative agency, Radish House, struggled to transform digital creations into tangible products.

Recognizing this, she created Dar Waraqa as a one-stop shop, guiding clients from the idea stage to the final product.

“The company also expanded its services to include post-production, distribution, and marketing, ensuring that books and products reach their intended audience,” she explained. “Collaborating closely with Radish House, we select artists to create magical stories.”

Dar Waraqa also provides extensive guidance and training to artists and designers, focusing on young talent from Saudi Arabia and globally, Idriss added. “We aim to lead the golden age of Saudi children’s books through a collective creative process that leverages the latest technology.”

At the company, the storytelling process begins with in-house ideation, emphasizing innovation and creativity before involving any authors. Once a solid project structure is in place, they seek the best authors, primarily working with Saudi Arabia talent but also international writers when needed.

The publishing house is not working under any government entity currently, Idriss said. “We are fortunate as Saudis that there are many initiatives and support programs available, and we try to apply to most of them. We are an independent small business working on projects with local entities to serve their needs.”

For example, “Aklana” is a collaboration between the Saudi Culinary Commission to create a series of children’s books highlighting recipes and stories from the Kingdom’s 13 provinces.

The title translates to “Our Saudi Food” and the work presents authentic recipes through characters that are meant to be filled with joy and endearing to young readers.

“It is an excellent way to … work with the commission closely on preserving recipes in a fun and innovative way,” Idriss said.

She added that the series is “a great way to innovate and build a community of creatives who collaborate and build visual narratives of our food, culture, and daily life.”

Each book in the “Aklana” series includes a short summary of the region and its natural resources.

Idriss added that the commission put in “tremendous effort” to provide their team with resources and recipes “as they spent the last few years working diligently on traveling around Saudi Arabia researching recipes and documenting them as well as talking to experts.”

The series is designed to be a part of any home or school library for Saudi Arabia children.

“In some comics and stories, we tackle traditions like dishes prepared days before a specific holiday or a wedding feast or the rituals and traditions in local households when a baby is born. With that, we successfully achieved a series that informs and entertains people from all ages and walks of life,” Idriss explained.

The six published “Aklana” books have recently been translated into Mandarin Chinese and Korean, debuting at the 2024 Beijing and Seoul international book fairs, respectively. Currently, only the Madinah edition has been translated into English.

“Once the series is complete, we plan to apply to the Tarjem initiative to have the books translated into various languages,” Idriss said. This would help entertain and inform people worldwide about the diversity of Saudi Arabia’s culture and life, she added.

In 2023, Dar Waraqa collaborated with Ithra at the Eastern Region Book Fair to create an interactive storytelling experience for children and families, which attracted over 10,000 guests.

During Ramadan 2024, Dar Waraqa worked with Hayy Explorers at Hayy Jameel in Jeddah and participated in a panel discussion at the Abu Dhabi Book Fair, to present the publisher’s perspective on the creative process.