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Bolormaa Baasansuren illustrated her first story, told to her by her grandmother, when she was four years old. Her first picture book, Tales on Horseback, was published when she was in 10th grade at secondary school and was a "Distinguished Best Book of Mongolia" in 1999. She went on to graduate in painting from the Institute of Fine Arts in Mongolia and has also studied picture book illustration in Moscow, Russia.

Since the publication of Tales on Horseback , Bolormaa has won many awards, both in her native Mongolia and abroad, including twice being placed in the International Competition of Illustration (Teatrio/UNICEF). In 2004 she won the Grand Prize in the 14th Noma Councours with her illustrations for My Little Round House, which has since been published in Mongolia, Japan and Canada. My Little Round House was selected for inclusion in the 2010 Spirit of PaperTigers Project.

Two years ago, Bolormaa moved from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with her husband, artist Ganbaatar Ichinnorov, to Japan, where she is currently a research student at the University of Bunkyo.

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Quotations taken from our interview with Bolormaa Baasansuren:

When I was 4 years old, my mother enrolled me in a children's drawing class in Mongolia. Since that time, my life has always been connected with pictures. Also, my grandmother always told many tales to me and my younger sister. I drew pictures for those tales. Maybe it influenced me to want to become a picture book illustrator.

...

I share a studio with my husband, Ganbaatar Ichinnorov, who is also a painter.  He wrote and illustrated a picture book called The Hunnu Empire Festival, (Munhiin Useg, Mongolia, 2005). At the moment, in the mornings, he and I are going through the dummy version of a picture book we are working on together (I’m not a morning person, though– I don’t like getting up early!).

In the afternoons (...) I draw color illustrations, or do some sketches for my illustrations or paintings. That’s how I spend a typical day.

Of course, sometimes it’s difficult to work and I struggle to find new ideas. That’s when I like to take a walk in the park.

...

If I could, I would like to send [My Little Round House] to every country in the world! But just now, most of all I would like to send it to Haiti. Now, after the earthquake, it's a very hard time for the people of Haiti, and especially for the children. For this reason,  I would like to imagine the children of Haiti forgetting their hard day even just for a moment, by immersing themselves in a picture book.

Posted February 2010

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