The Cloud That Moved In is shortlisted for the 2026 International Award for Arabic Children's Literature There is a particular kind of joy in publishing that has little to do with sales figures, print runs, or even the excitement of holding a finished book for the first time. It is the moment when a story you believed in receives recognition beyond the walls of your publishing house. Today, we are celebrating one of those moments. The Cloud That Moved In, written by Aisha Ras

What separates us has gradually become greater than what brings us together. We have grown content with our phones, our books, and our small screens. Each of us sits inside a private world, strangely united in our isolation, our silence, and the distance that continues to grow between us, even when we are sitting in the same room. We have come to miss the noise of family, the laughter of friends, long gatherings, and late nights that move from one question to a story, from a

Ajyaal introduces The Cloud That Lived in - a picture book shaped by lived experience, created for children facing questions too large to carry alone. A family rarely forgets the life it had before difficult news arrived. There was breakfast. There was school. There were celebrations marked by the smell of cake in the kitchen. There was a mother whose presence seemed woven into every ordinary part of the day. Then something changed. Adults may have words for appointments, dia