Contact:

Tel: 415-409-4726

Website: http://www.sarakahn.com

San Francisco, California

Sara Iravani Kahn is an illustrator currently living in San Francisco with her husband and three cats. Her illustrations, using a combination of techniques, have appeared in Cricket and Cicada magazines.

Born in the U.S., Sara grew up in Iran during its very turbulent times following the departure of the Shah in 1979. She received a B.A. in Fine Art from Tehran University, an M.A. in Educational Psychology from Alzahra University, and a Post-Masters' Certificate in Art Therapy from UC Berkeley in 2002. While living in Iran, she illustrated twenty children's books and also taught art in kindergartens, schools and universities.

Sara started painting as a serious career when she was three. Going through her mom’s belongings, she found a beautiful oil color set and painted the kitchen floor. As a result the whole family was kicked out of the house. Later, in school, she drew caricatures of her most and least favorite teachers. (Her classmates especially loved the latter.) Once, one of the “bad” teachers came across one of Sara’s caricatures of her. The teacher was not happy and got Sara kicked out of that class. (Plus that she had to bring her parents to school the day after!) Now after 35 years of drawing and painting she is happy that her paintings do not get her in trouble as much as they did when she was younger…

Sara has won many awards and scholarships for her art work from around the world, including:

• Magazine Merit Award from SCBWI, 2002, Los Angeles
• IBBY honor list, 1996, Groningen, Holland
• International Youth Library Scholarship, 1993, Munich, Germany
• First Prize, International Biennial of Illustration for Children, 1992, Tehran, Iran

Her work has been exhibited in Iran, the U.S., Italy, the Slovak Republic, Japan, and Spain.

On My Block (Children's Book Press, San Francisco, 2007)

Fifteen illustrators each depicted a place special to them from childhood. Sara chose to illustrate her grandma’s garden—with its 32 stray cats in residence.

The Best Children's Books In the World (Byron Preiss Visual Press, New York, 1995)

Sara illustrated twenty children's books in Iran. Eight of those books can be seen on the internet at the International Children's digital library http://www.icdlbooks.org. Please type the keyword: Sara Iravani

Sara’s Presentation for On My Block, September 2007, at Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Sara built a diorama of her grandma’s garden (as illustrated in On My Block) without the cats, and invited the audience to make cats from clay and add them to the garden.