“Read with Me” is a project with the primary goal of making quality books accessible to children who would otherwise have little or no access to them—such as street children, working children, young adults, or those living in remote and underprivileged areas of Iran.

The project focuses on reading aloud, aiming to create a joyful and meaningful experience for children. At the same time, it supports teachers, librarians, and volunteers in isolated areas through training workshops and ongoing guidance. The initiative is funded by donations and operated entirely by volunteers.

Marit has been involved in the project from the very beginning. She first connected with Zohreh Ghaeni, the founder of Read with Me, during a visit to an international children’s literature festival in Tehran in 2004.

Since then, she has returned twice to deliver workshops in various parts of the country, often in marginalized communities. A third visit, planned for 2020, was canceled at the last moment due to the pandemic. Her work has included reading and training sessions for street children, children working in factories south of Tehran, children in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Isfahan, Afghan refugees, and victims of an earthquake in Iranian Kurdistan.

In total, Marit has provided workshops to hundreds of children, educators, and facilitators.

But her collaboration with Read with Me goes even further: Marit donated the translation rights to her books so they could be published in Farsi in Iran. She has also inspired other European authors to do the same. In addition, she mentors a group of seven young and talented Iranian illustrators in creating new picture books. These books are published in Iran and offer a much-needed addition to the high-quality literature currently available to Iranian children.

Moreover, several picture books—The Girl and Her Seven Horses (2018) by Nooshin Safakhoo and Hadi Mohammadi, Pomegranate Girl (2021) by Neda Rastin Meer and Hadi Mohammadi, and The Crow’s Dream (2025) by Salimeh Babakhan and Hadi Mohammadi—have now been translated into Dutch and published by Querido.

In 2025, Marit played a key role in the distribution and design of mobile libraries—an effective way to quickly bring around 150 books to children in crisis situations, whether caused by natural disasters, poverty, or conflict.