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Today we welcome Azadeh Westergaard to Cynsations to talk about her second picture book biography The One and Only Googoosh (Viking Books for Young Readers, Nov 12, 2024). Azadeh has written about two iconic figures, Nikola Tesla a reclusive scientist and Faegheh Atashin also known as Googoosh, an Iranian singer who was forced to leave the limelight and stay silent for nearly twenty years. I must confess I listened to Googoosh’s songs on YouTube after chatting with Azadeh and though I do not understand Farsi, I enjoyed Googoosh’s music and found it had similarities with the Indian musical rhythms.
The One and Only Googoosh was featured on School Library Journal and received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, which described it as “a radiant love letter to a treasured artist—and to a long-gone way of life.” The art has also been selected by jury to be included in the 2024 Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators, which honors the year’s best illustrated children’s books published in the U.S. Azadeh has graciously shared her art process in detail with visuals below.
Googoosh’s story resonates a lot with me because music especially Bollywood songs about ‘longing and belonging’ have been the glue to hold my own immigrant family together. What first inspired you to write and illustrate Googoosh’s biography for young readers? How did you imbibe Googoosh’s music during your childhood spent in the US?
I am so happy this story resonated with you, Mitu. I first learned about Googoosh’s life story after watching a documentary called Googoosh: Iran’s Daughter. The film was about her disappearance from the public sphere after the 1979 Iranian Revolution and from it I learned that Googoosh was a child star who began her career performing alongside her acrobat father. This detail stayed with me and when I was brainstorming about potential picture book biography subjects, Googoosh immediately came to mind not only because of the historic significance and emotional heft of her life story, but also because I thought that her childhood stage experiences would resonate with readers.
I was too young to be an active Googoosh listener when I was living in Iran, but still, even at age seven, I was very much aware of her fame. Her music and image were everywhere — on street posters, magazine covers, music cassettes in my older sister’s room, in cinemas. She was a household name.
This picture book biography is about a living legend. Could you share your process of research and winnowing out extraneous details to pick the moments that you have strung together with such lyricism? How did you balance historical accuracy while incorporating word play and imagery?
I conducted most of my research via video and film clips I found on YouTube. It’s an invaluable research resource where I was able to find and watch Googoosh’s press conference in Toronto in 2000, when she left Iran and was scheduled to perform again for the first time in over twenty years. I also listened to multiple in-depth interviews with Googoosh. It’s worth noting that all of these videos were in Persian, so I listened to a snippet, stopped the video, transcribed it into my notebook in English and so forth.
When researching, I always listen for unique anecdotes and compelling life details that might interest children and adult readers.
As for visual imagery, Googoosh’s personal Facebook page has a very organized image library of her life through the decades. Pinterest and Instagram are also overflowing with images from Googoosh’s heyday youth in the 1960s and 1970s.
“And in our far-flung kitchens, still fragrant with the scents
of slow-simmering stews and steaming saffron rice,
your songs stayed alive on our lips,
marking our milestones and our day-to-day,
forever pressed in our memories—
sweet like the taste of our grandmother’s halva,
tender like the soft touch of her farewell kiss.”
This long line stands out in particular for me as a reader, I love the alliteration which feels like I am tasting a bit of music on my tongue. Do you have any favorite lines from this book, that fill you with joy like Googoosh’s songs do?
That’s also one of my favorite lines. I adore alliteration which is likely why I am so drawn to the picture book form. As for the text, sensory food memories are a direct portal to my Iranian roots and I wanted to evoke the familiar scents of a typical Iranian family’s kitchen. This simple domestic moment represents some of my fondest childhood memories — doing my homework at the kitchen table while my mom made my favorite Khoreshteh Karafs (celery and beef stew) with saffron-topped basmati rice and crispy tahdik (which literally translates to “bottom of the pot” and is the crunchy rice at the bottom of the rice pot and the most coveted delicacy at every Iranian dinner table.)
Could you tell us a bit more about your process of writing this picture book, especially the choice of the first-person-plural point of view that is so unusual and fitting for this story.
I researched the book just before the pandemic shut down and wrote the text fairly quickly during the summer of 2020. A box of Kleenex was always close by — as Googoosh’s life story, as well as the collective life trajectory of Iranians as we struggled to rebuild our lives both inside and outside of Iran after the 1979 revolution and the devastating Iran-Iraq war was profoundly moving and emotional for me.
I initially planned to write a cradle to present-moment story about Googoosh’s life but the manuscript felt incomplete. Googoosh is such a significant cultural icon and is the living embodiment of a very particular moment in Iranian history, so it made sense to alternate between second person to represent her life story and first person plural to represent the perspective of her fans.
As for my writing process, I use an app called Flowstate when drafting a new project. The way the app works is that you choose a specific amount of time to write (I set mine to 10 minutes) and if you stop typing during your set time, the words you’ve written start disappearing. Flowstate has been an invaluable tool for distractible me and successfully shuts down the critical mind. I truly can’t recommend it enough. My son was recently struggling with a school essay and he gave the app a try and he’s now a convert as well.
In general, during your picture book writing and revision process, are there any mentor texts that you find useful and how?
I don’t often refer to mentor texts while writing or revising, but I do study picture books as a habit. I am truly passionate about this very special visual storytelling art form and have a growing collection that I often dip into for inspiration. I am most drawn to picture books that lean towards spare, lyrical text and hand-drawn imagery — two all-time favorites include Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois written by Amy Novesky and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (Abrams, 2016), and Woven of the World, written by the late Katey Howes and illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova (Chronicle, 2023).
This book’s art reminds me of the playfulness of Oge Mora’s collages and the textural nature of Melissa Sweet, two of my favorite picture book illustrators. What was the discovery process of finding your unique illustration style that suits this project so well? And how did you take your art from a beginner level to publishable?
I will take a comparison to Oge Mora and Melissa Sweet’s work any day — thank you so much, Mitu! As mentioned earlier, the text for the book came together fairly quickly. The art on the other hand was a true experimental journey. I am self-taught and during the pandemic shut down, I essentially put myself through a self-propelled illustration crash course by taking online classes of art techniques that interested me via Domestika and Skillshare. One of my favorite classes was Yuko Shimizo’s pen and ink techniques tutorial.
As for the look and feel of the book, I wanted a warm, hand-made touch to get myself away from the computer. I also wanted the art to feel “alive” and not overworked which I have a tendency to do if I have access to a pencil and eraser.
For the line work in the book, I used an almost out of ink Japanese art pen which gives the line a pencil-like quality. My evolving art philosophy is: You can’t make a mistake with ink. For example, the opening image of Googoosh’s father juggling — I drew his face tens of times until I settled on the one that felt right. Other times, a face or an object would work out on the first try. But again, I went with the rule that there are no mistakes — no pencils and erasers allowed to keep the line work fresh and alive. It’s a much longer process working in that way, but I think it’s worth it.
In the initial stages of creating this picture book did you envision the visuals or focus on the words alone? As an author-illustrator, how does your writing journey inform your artistic journey?
The written draft came first. That said, I am an extremely visual person and problem- solve by drawing things out. As such, I always write with images in mind. For example, since Googosh was a child star and spent so much of her life on stage, I knew that would make for festive, child-friendly imagery that I was excited to draw.
Once the draft was complete, I printed Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s picture book thumbnail template and worked out the sequencing of the text and images that way. Once I was happy with the thumbnails, I made a mini-dummy book to make sure the flow and page turns worked. I also created physical mood board pages for each spread. It was then over a year of experimentation and just tinkering and having fun in my studio until I settled on the style I was happy with.
During our conversation you mentioned tea-staining papers to use for the artwork. How long did it take to produce the artwork for this manuscript with block printing, hand cutting and crafting paper into forms? What were the challenges in bringing these images to life?
From start to finish, the final art took me a little over six-months of extremely focused work with lots of late nights. If a wiser and more experienced me were to take on this exact project again, I think a much healthier time frame to set for myself would be a minimum of 8 months because of all the artmaking elements involved.
This project was a huge learning process for me and I chose a labor intensive, multi-step and multi-layered art process to bring the images to life, including: tea staining white paper for the backgrounds, hand-carving block prints for most of the imagery, printing the patterned pages, building the stage set scenes in 3-D, block-printing crepe paper for the clothing and stage curtains which I hand-sewed in order to create the effect of the creased, draping fabric, and finally cutting and assembling the pieces into a collage.
How did you navigate the editing and revising journey with your editor and art director given that there is no digital quick fix possible in your labor-intensive art process?
In addition to the full manuscript text, I shared a sketch book dummy with my editor, Tamar Brazis, and art director, Opal Roengchai. I also included a few color spreads of sample finished art to give a concrete sense of the look and feel. Opal and Tamar then sent detailed art notes which I incorporated into revised sketches. Once these sketches were approved, I started on the final art.
Since my art style is multi-dimensional and includes collage elements, I didn’t glue anything down permanently. I am a big fan of Grafix Artist Tac which does a good job of adhering a collage element to the page, yet is very forgiving because you can easily move elements around without damaging the art. The only catch is that it can leave a slight residue of mini glue dots when you move things around, but it’s easily removed with an eraser.
In this particular page the children’s hair, the pleated skirt of the teacher, and the Farsi script all in varying shades of black provide great textural interest. How did you plan the color palette for this book and maintain color consistency in all the spreads?
I wanted the color palette to feel warm but with pops of bright color, which is why I used the tea-stained backgrounds as my base and used bright white as embellishments or in places where I wanted a subtle flash. I am also extremely fond of the color combo of pink and red, which I incorporated mostly in the stage scenes and also for the book cover.
That said, the book really dictated its own specific color palette once I had the first few spreads complete. If a color scheme wasn’t working, it instinctively felt out of place. For example, in the spread where the family is dancing in front of the television set, I reworked both the background and rug at least three times until I found a color combination that felt consistent with the established tone of the book.
This book is a visual poem. Similar to your lines filled with assonance and consonance, I see the repetition of graphic elements and recurring motifs such as stamped roses and yellow polka dots that appear on the pages. How did you decide on these particular artistic elements that give your story a visual cohesiveness?
I am so happy you noticed the repeating graphics, as they were definitely intentional. The art director, Opal Roengchai, suggested the use of a repeating motif. She wisely thought that it would be smart to follow Googoosh’s journey, alongside the journey of another girl her age, in this instance, a girl who always wears a white top with yellow polka dots.
As for repeating flowers and roses, that is a very Persian motif and one that I think is just in my blood. I can’t help but put flowers everywhere and in this instance, since Googoosh is referred to as a rose in the early pages of the book, I incorporated the imagery throughout.
With regards to the process of creating books, in Tesla’s biography you handed over your written words to another artist, Julia Sarda; in Googoosh’s case you illustrated the story yourself. How different, challenging or rewarding was either process for you?
Julia Sarda’s is an amazing artist, so it was truly thrilling when she accepted the Tesla project. A personal highlight was when Julia’s first round of sketches came in. It’s so exciting to see the book take shape visually and her sketches are just incredible! So precise and clean, almost like finished art. It was a true honor to have my debut book illustrated by an artist with her level of skill and experience.
As for my own illustrated book, I will never look at a picture book the same way again. It’s a tremendous amount of work and a true labor of love. I was at once entranced by the process and overwhelmed by every little detail I had to be mindful of. There was so much to learn and to get done all at once. That said, it was also an incredibly rewarding artistic journey and truly a delight to work on. I can’t wait to dive into another picture book project.
Who or what has had the biggest influence on you as an artist, as an author-illustrator?
Folk and outsider art in general is a big influence, as are the color palettes and intricate patterns in Persian miniature paintings. Also, the artists Ben Shahn and Robert Gwathmey are two of my biggest visual art influences. Their line work, textures, compositions, and use of color deeply resonates with me.
I have also always loved Shel Silverstein, Aubrey Beardsley, and Edward Gorey’s detailed ink drawings.
As for illustrators and author-illustrators, I adore William Steig’s books Amos and Boris and Abel’s Island (FSG, 1976) and Abby Hanlon’s Dory Fantasmagory books (Dial, 2014-2023). My list of favorite picture book artists is long, but some other creatives whose work I admire are Sophie Blackall, Beatrice Alemagna, Maira Kalman, Matthew Forsythe, Sydney Smith, and Vladimir Radunsky.
In terms of the publishing business, how did you navigate the process of finding an agent and connecting your work to the editor/ publisher?
I joined Publishers Marketplace to get a sense of which editors and agents were publishing books that overlapped with my sensibility. I highly recommend this resource to anyone looking for an agent or editor, membership is monthly so you can cancel at any time. It’s an incredible resource when researching who to submit to.
My agent Alyssa Eisner Henkin also represents the author Jen Bryant, whose picture book biographies I greatly admire, so I was thrilled when she offered representation for A Life Electric: The Story of Nikola Tesla. Alyssa has so much knowledge and enthusiasm about the field of publishing and she’s a true professional and wonderful ally.
Together we made a list of editors who the manuscript might resonate with and Tamar Brazis, then with Abrams and now VP and Publisher of Viking Children’s Book, was at the top of my wish list. Tamar is a brilliant editor and excellent communicator and it’s been nothing but a pleasure working with her and the rest of the Viking team on both of my books. Coincidentally, Tamar was the editor of Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois, which as I mentioned earlier is one of my absolute favorite picture book biographies.
What other book projects do you have brewing? Can you tell us about any forthcoming books?
My next project is a complete departure from my picture book biography work. Believe it or not, the writing style I most identify with is humor! I am now working on an illustrated middle-grade fiction project about the unlikely friendship between a jumpy jerboa and a peculiar penguin.
Cynsational Notes
Azadeh Westergaard (aa-za-dé) is an Iranian-American bookmaker based in New York City. She is the author and illustrator of the newly released The One & Only Googoosh: Iran’s Beloved Superstar and the author of A Life Electric: The Story of Nikola Tesla, illustrated by Júlia Sardà, which has been translated into several languages and received recognition as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, NST Outstanding Science Trade Book, a NSTA Best STEM Books for Youth, and a Booklist Editor’s Choice.
Mitu Malhotra holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the 2021 winner of the Katherine Paterson Prize for Literature for Young Adults and Children. Her short story Toxins is part of ELA curriculum. In previous avatars, she was a textile and fashion designer. When she is not writing, Mitu paints, sews, and builds miniature dollhouses out of recycled materials. More on www.mitumalhotra.com. Follow her on Instagram @mituart or Bluesky @mitumalhotra.