Ofra Amit – illustratör

The Universe in Verse is an ode to wonder and an exploration of the human search for truth and meaning. Poetry and science, as Popova writes in her introduction, "are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply." In 15 short essays on subjects ranging from the mystery of dark matter and the infinity of pi to the resilience of trees and the intelligence of octopuses, Popova tells the stories of scientific searching and discovery. These stories are interwoven with details from the very real and human lives of scientists-many of them women, many underrecognized-and poets inspired by the same questions and the beauty they reveal. Each essay is paired with a poem reflecting its subject by poets ranging from Emily Dickinson, W. H. Auden, and Edna St. Vincent Millay to Maya Angelou, Diane Ackerman, and Tracy K. Smith, and is stunningly illustrated by celebrated artist Ofra Amit. Together, they wake us to a "reality aglow with wonder."

“I fell instantly under the spell of this crepuscular story aglow with love and longing . . . Margaret’s love letter to the mystery of death . . . bittersweet and beautiful like the transience of life itself.” —Maria Popova, from the AfterwordA Marginalian Editions rediscovery, by the author of Goodnight Moon: Margaret Wise Brown’s little-known, deeply moving modern fable about love and loss.In 1948, a year after Margaret Wise Brown had enriched the world of children’s literature with Goodnight Moon, the love of her life fell gravely ill. Attending her partner’s bedside every day, she faced her inconsolable grief in the best way she knew: She wrote a love letter in the form of a children’s book. The Dark Wood of the Golden Birds brings us into a hushed and numinous world, illuminated by Brown’s signature poetic prose.The story begins near the house of an old man who tends to honeybees and asparagus while living on the edge of a magic forest. Behind his home lies the dark wood—a place from which “there is no return”—where golden birds sing through the night and day. When two orphaned children wander onto his farm, he gives them a home and he warns them never to venture past the edge of the wood. When the old man falls ill, however, the boy decides to brave the unknown in search of a cure. What secret knowledge will he find in the dark wood?With lush new illustrations by Ofra Amit and a foreword by Maria Popova, this rediscovered work of uncommon beauty and tenderness lights a path through love and loss for readers of all ages.