A Round Dream

About the Book

In A Round Dream, Sabina Schürmann builds an illustrated album where literature and geometry enter into a precise poetic dialogue. Through the story of a square king -rigid and confined within his own shape-, the narrative explores the desire for change and the possibility of transformation.

When a circular tear suddenly breaks into his world of right angles, something unexpected happens ─a curve appears as a gateway to tenderness, imagination, and freedom.

With its musical prose and a carefully crafted visual interplay of shapes, colors, and symmetries, the book invites readers to discover that even the most rigid structures can open up to surprise. A delicate and profound album that turns geometry into an emotional metaphor and celebrates the transformative power of joy.

Excerpt 

Once upon a time, there was a square king

who used to live with his rhombus army,

all day trapped within his own geometry.

He was always angry, this square king,

grumbling at the straight lines of his palace

and the obtuse soldiers who obeyed him blindly.

But his orders and complaints

would not set him free.

The king was a prisoner

of his own monarchy.

So he waited for the right moment

to make a royal wish:

That the day might bend

upon his command, instantly.

He closed his eyes and blew the candles

(His soldiers did it too,

though it was all in vain, as you can see.)

But not even all the wishes in the kingdom

could reach his dream and break monotony.

He went out for a walk around his trimmed maze

and among the sharp angles 

he scratched a wounded line in symmetry.

So very sad was our square king

that a circle rolled down his cheek

leaving on the floor a round stain.

Could it be a mirror? A seed?

The stain drew on the king

a gentle line, soft and curved like a smile

that bent the edges of his melancholy.

And so, the square king found within himself

the curve that would smooth his days,

and he could, at last, enjoy his round fantasy.

 

 

Translated by Sandra Botta - Edited by Cecilia Della Croce