Hortari by Marie-Alice Harel

Hortari was first published in 2017 in a softcover edition of less than 100 copies. In 2018, I created the pink hardcover edition (300 copies). Both of these editions are now sold out.
The new 2022 hardback edition pictured here has a luxurious cloth spine and updated design and format. Hortari was also translated and published in France in 2019 by Cipango.

Hortari is a collection of 15 short stories about explorers and seekers you've never heard of. Bascahil Pellin, Isha Nim, Paul Teribec... they travelled the world and changed it, but you won't find their achievements in history books. This is their stories, illustrated in watercolours by the author. These endearing characters remind us that we are all defining our own quests, often taking us to unexpected places, whether it be on the other side of the planet or in a remote corner of our backyard.

Staff Review from the Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris : “For me, Hortari by MÄ Harel was what we French call a real "coup de  coeur". When the author dropped by to show me her book I was immediately  struck by the mysterious absence of a title on the beautifully designed  cover. The book then opened on to a series of dreamlike watercolour portraits of what the author calls "Explorers and Seekers", accompanied by short texts like, for example, the story of Isha Nim and her mission to keep a volcano quiet by offering it the most beautiful flowers she could find, or Alyse De Quissac, who wanted nothing more than to stay lost in her maze. Reminiscent of Calvino and Borges but with a style all her own, MÄ is on a quest for new grounds of poetic expression. “