In a world where children’s stories are often seen as simple, this conversation challenges that idea completely.
This episode features Maya Fidawi, a Lebanese illustrator whose work has shaped generations of young readers through visual storytelling that is both imaginative and deeply human. With a career dedicated to children’s literature, Maya approaches illustration not just as art, but as a language, one that introduces children to emotion, identity, and the complexity of the world around them.
Growing up during the Lebanese Civil War, her relationship with storytelling began early, where imagination became more than creativity, it became a way to process, escape, and rebuild meaning. Today, that influence continues to appear subtly in her work, not through direct representation, but through tone, sensitivity, and the way stories are visually constructed.
In this conversation, Maya reflects on why she continues to return to children’s books, what makes illustrating for younger audiences uniquely challenging, and why certain stories are still missing from the region’s publishing landscape.
The episode also explores her role as an educator, where she works closely with emerging illustrators. From gaps in art and design education to the realities of the creative industry, she shares what young artists in Lebanon are facing today and how a new generation is using illustration not just to create, but to question, respond, and redefine.
At its core, this episode asks a simple but important question: what does it really mean to create stories for children… in a world that is anything but simple?
