Huge congratulations to Leyla Angelidis, one of our Lions Roaring writers! As part of her amazing work with Open Hearts Big Dreams (OHBD), Leyla has written several books for early readers in Ethiopia. 

Recently, one of Leyla’s books, Beautiful Dreams, co-authored with her mother, Ellenore Angelidis, has been nominated for inclusion on the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)’s 2026 Honour List of outstanding books for young people globally.

Beautiful Dreams, in Amharic and English, was nominated for “Best Illustration,” and features artists from Ethiopia and elsewhere. It was illustrated by the wonderful Nahosenay Negussie, an incredibly talented Ethiopian artist whose work is on the cover of Lions Roaring Far From Home. 

“The book’s message is that little girls can dream about becoming anything they want to be—a dream that Leyla holds for children everywhere.”

Open Hearts Big Dreams is a Seattle-based, not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to increasing literacy, inclusion, innovation readiness, and leadership skills in Ethiopia and beyond. Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous country, but tens of millions of people there are without literacy skills, and there is a lack of sufficient quality, culturally relevant children’s bilingual books in the local languages, including Amharic, Tigrinya, Afaan Oromo, Somali, Anuak, and more, as well as English, French, Kiswahili, and more. Follow them on Facebook. 

They have won many other awards as well. Take a look here at the impressive awards. You can buy some books, from small booksellers as well as the big names. Spread the word about these books. Literacy changes lives—there is no doubt about that. Books are vitally important for all children, and I’d say especially those who rarely have them. This is a beautiful and effective way to support vulnerable children in Ethiopia and elsewhere.

Congratulations, Leyla! We are so proud of you.

You can read the full article from IBBY here