We are
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Around the campfire with age-old stories from around the world
Do you remember those stories from your childhood that were shared around a campfire or by lamplight?
They were all full of human warmth, wisdom passed down through the generations, joy and curiosity. The whole world opened up before you through those words and that fire.
That’s how we at Blissful Thinking want to feel and make others feel when we share each story. To serve as a campfire, like the ones around which stories have been passed down through the generations and across different ethnic groups.
We don’t just want to publish, we want to share those common values, to enlighten. We want to share the cultural richness of the world through storytelling, encouraging creativity in younger generations and fostering two-way communication between adults and children.
And we want to do this in digital and analogue formats, preserving and nurturing the thing that matters most: that human warmth, in every word, every breath, every pixel.
Can you remember that feeling too? Let’s all feel it again, together.
That moment when you first discover stories
As children, our heads could barely reach above the desk. And there we were, standing on our tiptoes, peering at the cover of that huge book.
We wanted to discover the world. We wanted to explore it, from top to bottom, grasp its symbols and rules, and understand our place there and here. And yes, we were afraid of that raging dragon, and that ragged witch gave us the creeps. And yes, we kept on reading.
We can still feel that tingling sensation in our stomachs, can’t we?
We still want that feeling of amazement, to rush towards a new adventure, to stumble, to fall, to get up again. And to share that experience with the younger generations, in whom we see ourselves reflected like the clearest water in a golden fountain.
At Blissful, we want to awaken your dormant curiosity and take you back to the time when you first discovered these stories.
A vivid world of tales that encompasses all of these stories and, as if by magic, lets you return to your childhood with your children, nieces, granddaughters, and students by your side.
The bridge between oral tradition and digital language
Oral tradition shapes customs, fears, curiosities…symbols for the cosmological and ontological puzzle that defines us.
As publishers, we are simply yet another tributary flowing into that ocean of popular wisdom.
Technology can and should be compatible with tradition. It is the integrity of that tradition which needs to be preserved. While respecting it, we share it in a variety of formats, in a language that appeals to every generation.
That’s why we have an illustrator who brings our digital storyworld to life with her coloured pencils. And we have authors who have scribbled down stories on paper, which have then been adapted for our “magical” reader for all kinds of audiences.
We want to provide our space to collect stories from the oral tradition. Make it available to everyone because it belongs to us all equally.
If you ask yourself how your grandfather, mother, daughters or grandchildren view the world, isn’t each of them different? And at the same time, aren’t they all the same?
A time to enjoy creativity together as a family before bedtime
For children, every day is a whole lifetime in itself. A new story, a new adventure, a never-ending now.
And every time they are about to close their little weary eyes, a window opens for us to see the world through their eyes.
A free invitation to travel hand in hand with them and reawaken our own curiosity. To contrast our experiences of the day with their perspectives, which leave us speechless or make us roar with laughter, grounding us back in the present.
At Blissful, we want to provide the stories and settings that suit these moments, respectfully accompanying you and your family on this journey, whether in print or digital format, through words, images or sound.
Moments of curiosity and creativity, where children can explore stories, incorporate symbolic language and their own experiences. The simple moments of life.
The publisher that publishes more questions than answers
Stories are meant to be told, explored and experienced.
The magic comes from the unexpected, the amazement a child can feel when hearing a story, and the lasting impression it leaves on them for years to come.
Maybe because of the story itself, or maybe because of the person who shared it with them when they heard it for the first time.
It just so happens that this is also where an opportunity is created for stories to be used as a tool for self-expression. Expressing emotions, reflecting, looking at themselves and the world around them.
At Blissful, we take stories and children very seriously. We respect them so much that we don’t want to treat them in a way that is pompous or arrogant: children are not stupid, fragile, or always angelic. And neither are stories.
They are intelligent, creative and, sometimes, even mischievous. And we love them that way.
At Blissful, we want to be a publisher that creates more questions than answers. And trust that children will speak up and give us a wider perspective.
A chapter of your childhood that you will never forget
Childhood is full of moments that stay with us for the rest of our lives.
Memories that are engraved in our minds, only resurfacing many years later because of a familiar smell or touch, a tiny speck of dust floating in a ray of light, or a few magical words.
At Blissful Thinking, we close our eyes every day to relive those feelings. We retrieve them from our memories and ensure that these voices continue to be heard by children.
We make sure that the cover of any new book awakens their sense of touch.
We unleash Pegasus to invite them to soar through the skies of our unique digital storybook world.
So that, many years later, they will still remember that breeze on their smiling faces, that memory at their fingertips, that smell of coloured pencils.
A chapter of their childhoods that they will never forget.
The workshop where you create stories especially for you
Which types of stories do you like best?
Perhaps an adventure in which you explore a classic fantasy world, a fable about justice, an innocent, folkloric tale that takes you back to your childhood.
Or entertaining narrative concoctions whose characters will make you laugh out loud, with symbolism that reconnects us with our oral tradition.
Perhaps you like all of them. Each at their own time.
Our publishing house has made it our mission to have thimbles, threads, and many-coloured fabrics at hand, so that together we can cut, measure, and sew together a story that is tailored just for you.
To share with your family, to enjoy in that little spot where you slip off your shoes, curl up and let yourself be swept away by characters without knowing where you’ll end up.
We are inspired to build bridges between different formats (paper, digital, games and activities) and weave together a rich tapestry of stories that connect generations, readers and authors with a common thread.
Not just any thread. One in which every stitch, turn and knot is made for you, dear children.
The literary community for all ages that knows no boundaries
What do a stone stew, a clove soup, an axe porridge, and a magic stone have in common?
They are all variations of a proto-story that tells us about cunning, cooperation, and how ‘necessity is the mother of invention.’ It is a universal theme woven into Colombia, Russia, Portugal, and China, whether in the post-war period or hundreds of years ago.
In his theory of the monomyth, Professor Joseph Campbell proposed a common structure that is replicated in stories from any culture and era.
Based on the unconscious archetypes of psychologist Carl Jung, these are references we are all born with, with which we can identify and grow.
And stories have always been the ideal tool for transmitting them between generations. A tool that knows no boundaries or ages. And one that shares a temporal structure of actions and character types, as Propp suggested.
That is why, as a publishing house, we wanted to call ourselves Blissful Thinking. To pay tribute to Campbell’s ‘Follow your Bliss’.
And because we are inspired by the idea of creating a space that allows us to share all that cultural, educational and creative wealth that unites us as human beings, and to offer it to children and new generations in a safe and fun way.
