Olya Anima – illustratör

An USBBY Outstanding International Book 2025Drawn from the Irish Traveller storytelling tradition, DeBhairduin’s tale is a gentle allegory about identity, self-acceptance and different ways of seeing the world.Two slugs travel happily together until they meet a crow who asks them where their home is. The younger brother, embarrassed, makes himself a shell, and calls himself snail. The older brother carries on as he is. At first, the brothers grow apart. But in time, they learn to respect each other’s way of life.

Irish language edition of The Slug and the SnailDrawn from the Irish Traveller storytelling tradition, DeBhairduin’s tale is a gentle allegory about difference, self-acceptance and different ways of seeing the world. Two slugs travel happily together as brothers, until they meet a crow who shows them that they have no home.Ashamed, one of the slugs decides to make himself a home, and calls himself snail. The brothers grow apart andbecome suspicious of each other. The slug with no shell-house feels ashamed until he learns to see that the very road he travels is his home, and so he shall never be homeless. The happy slug no longer sees himself through the judging eyes of others, but proudly asserts his place in the world.