Since the age of 8, Nadine Kaadan hasn’t stopped writing and illustrating children’s books - she simply knew that it was her calling in life. She started distributing her first children’s magazine to her 5th grade classmates, and 20 years later she is an award winning children’s book author and illustrator. Her mission it is to spread reading culture in the Arab world in a way that is inspired by Syria’s rich heritage. Her stories sometimes touch on delicate subjects like children with special needs, or like the current troubled situation in the Arab world, and other times they are just plain fun.
Nadine is published in several countries and languages and her mission is to champion empowered and inclusive representation in children’s books so that every child can see themselves in a story. Her work with young refugees in mitigating post-conflict trauma has captured the attention of CNN and the BBC, both of which have broadcast special features on her books ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘The Jasmine Sneeze’. She has been nominated for a Kate Greenaway Medal and is the 2019 winner of the Arab British Centre Award for Culture. Nadine was selected as one of The BBC 100 Women 2020’s ‘most influential and inspiring women’, and was featured on their BBC 100 Women masterclass. In 2021, Nadine was commissioned by The Story Museum to be the writer of Amal Meets Alice, a procession event in Oxford that gathered over 100 performers with 8000 people joining on the day.
Her latest book, ‘The Kind Activity Book’, illustrated by Nadine and Axel Scheffler - illustrator of the - is published by Scholastic and part of its proceeds will be donated to The Three Peas - a charity NGO that supports Syrian refugees.To read my full bio click here, and to read my CV, please visit my LinkedIn.
