The Big Green is a contemporary African story.
I often encourage creators to infuse their experiences into their stories, and this was my chance follow my own advice.
Creating and articulating a coherent and relatable story was more challenging than expected. Finding the balance between what I know as an African and what I know as a book maker was not straightforward.
While there are successful African-set stories, selling them internationally is difficult, and it’s not clear why buyers are so cautious or dismissive. I used this inexplicable caution to keep my approach and expectations realistic. My Southern African viewpoint, combined with my Western European training and American work experience, created a unique perspective.
I focused on creating a creative framework driven by these diverse experiences over four decades in publishing. I aimed for authenticity, cultural specificity without alienation, and a compelling narrative. Understanding the story’s purpose and maintaining positive critical thinking throughout the process was another challenge.
Thousands of languages and stories exist between my home in Zimbabwe in the south and Mali in the west of Africa. It was exciting to find commonalities between Africans and use them in the storytelling. I told the publisher that this should be a story about people, not a project, no matter how ambitious, and started drawing scenes of everyday life in a dusty town, including a hairdresser, barbershop, fabric shop, people on bicycles, and dusty roads.
It took about a year of practice to find the right visual language for this book. All the while, I was thinking about what might attract the reader to buy this. The Big Green is a picture book, so there’s not much room for written detail. I thought it was better to use the images to establish a feeling of hot weather with the reader.
Creating the story was one thing, but pitching it to a wide audience was another. I couldn’t assume everyone knows of Mali, so I focused on making the characters, including the setting, relatable. I also wanted to keep a high level of authenticity and integrity for the audience who will see themselves positively portrayed. This is a universal story of conservation told from an African point of view, and portrays people from Mali and West Africa in a positive, relatable way. there were many slices of life that didn’t make it. Perhaps for another book…
The next goal is to bring this story to children in West Africa and the countries along the Sahel. That means sponsorship for translation into local languages and help/advice about distribution.
Are you in an NGO working on The Great Green Wall of Africa project, or whose focus is improving literacy for children in Africa? Do you know any schools that are looking for positive African stories in print or digital? If any of these sound like you, get in touch.
The Big Green publishes in January 2026.
#TheBigGreenBook #ClimateForKids #AfricanChildrensBooks #MaliStories #ClimateActionNow #SDG13 #SmallActionsBigImpact #RepresentationMatters #AfricanDiaspora
The Illustrationist 