A Bellapais resident Sezgi Yalın’s first children’s book in a new series of books was published in English, Turkish, and Greek in November 2018 and is now available on Amazon and can be viewed on Facebook page Jack-the-Cat’s Dream. A Cyprus 2017 Stelios Bi-Communal award winner, Jack-the-Cat’s Dream is the amazing true story of a cat who dreams about moving from the big city of Chicago to a the small village of Bellapais in Cyprus.

Created for the age of four and up, the children’s book on Jack-the-Cat aims to teach kids how some of the most desired things in life are achieved through taking risks and being brave. The author also envisions parents reading Jack-the-Cat’s Dream to their children and encouraging them to pursue and realize their dreams like Jack-the-Cat. Beautifully illustrated by Louiza Kaimaki who won several illustration awards, the story is written by Sezgi, the owner of Jack-the-Cat who accompanied Jack during his move to Cyprus from Chicago. Dedicated to children around the world, Jack’s adventure traveling from one part of the world to another is a heart-warming story.

Jack-the-Cat’s Dream is the first in a series of children’s books called Jack-the-Cat’s Adventures©. Created through the professional collaboration and friendship of two natives of Cyprus Sezgi Yalın and Louiza Kaimaki, the series hopes to entertain and encourage children to discover our world. The books also intend to guide children in their journey through life, so they grow up to be happy, healthy, engaged, and productive individuals.

The series of books hopes to:

• inspire children to fulfill the potential in their lives.
• teach kids to value happiness, health, family and friends.
• role model how to stay true to one’s self while cooperating with others.
• introduce children to nature and wildlife around the world and in Cyprus.
• transport children to different corners of Cyprus and the world.
• teach children about people who shaped the history and lives of those around the world and on Cyprus.
• re-introduce children to the special days celebrated in Cyprus and the rest of the world.

Sezgi Yalın is an intellectual and adventurer who lives with her musician husband, their seven-year-old daughter, and several cats in their ‘aerie’ perched on the side of a hill in the small village of Bellapais in Cyprus. Sezgi has been teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language and training teachers for more than twenty years. She earned her B.A. in Journalism and English Literature at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and  her M.A. as a Fulbright scholar in teaching English as a foreign language at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She worked as an English teacher, teacher trainer and director of studies in the USA and Poland, and gained additional experience in the field in various countries such as the UK, Spain, Egypt, Lebanon, China, Nepal, Tibet, Vietnam, Cyprus and Turkey. She is currently a freelance teacher trainer working for Pilgrims Teacher Training Center in UK and Cambridge University teacher trainer courses (CELTA) around the world. While traveling to educate and educating to travel, Sezgi is inspired by students, teachers, trainers, and others who she encounters. She hopes to stimulate them in turn. Sezgi writes when she is particularly influenced by people, places, and events in her life. She has published several travel and English teaching/training related articles in the website magazines Humanising Language Teaching and TravelMag.

Nature walks and everyday life observations are inspirations for Louiza Kaimaki – a visual artist and illustrator born and raised in Nicosia, the ‘heart’ of Cyprus. A Manchester Metropolitan University 1999 graduate, Louiza now lives in The Hague with her husband and daughter, and collaborates with writers in Cyprus and around the world. Her travels between her two home countries have allowed Louiza to develop a visual language that allows relationships and emotions to emerge. Naturally, her creativity is also inspired by the texts she works with. Louiza has illustrated more than twenty books and won prizes, including the Illustration State Prize by the Ministry of Culture and Education in Cyprus, and represented Cyprus in biennales in Belgrade and Bratislava. Her oil paintings have been featured in group exhibitions in Cyprus and abroad, and her work is part of private and public collections.

* Available in English, Turkish, Greek