Goodbye 2020!

It’s been a weird year in some many ways. However, instead of counting my anxiety chickens, I want to count my calming blessings.

I had a number of new books for trade and education come out! Obviously my absolute favourite book I wrote, set in our family home, has warmed the hearts of many families, I’ve been told.

I’m grateful for the joys of this year, spending more time with my family, not having to see a dentist or find an excuse to eat ice-cream. I went through a range of emotions from loneliness to despair to joy. I wrote a number of new books under lockdown conditions, preferring to stay inside my head than read the news. I focussed on the detail, ironed everything possible in my closet and organised my ear-rings into pairs. All those little things helped me focus on the big picture.

I miss meeting friends and family, miss school visits which gave me the inspiration and energy to keep being creative and the festival circuit that always comes with a new book. Nevertheless, I did try and do most of that virtually – through the help of technology. Ironic that the large scale urban growth driven by technology caused the pandemic and we relied on tech us to keep us distracted from that chaos.

I really hope that this changes our collective humanity and we strive to work smarter to protect our planet. In my own little ways, I’ve been brave this year, spreading my wings, getting a new agent, writing new and different things.

Here’s my from writing desk to your reading chair,

Happy Holidays and a wonderful new year.

https://youtu.be/uVk3HKL2vL8

Happy New Year everyone!

2019 was an eventful year. It started in Chennai, India with my parents and took me on a journey to festivals and conferences across the world.

I was in Houston to participate in Texas Book Festival, then at SCBWI Europolitan Conference as a keynote speaker and had a quick stopover in Dubai for the Emirates Festival. Each festival gave me different perspectives on reading, stories and more. I met children from many different backgrounds, writers with aspirations and passion to tell new stories and although journeys are tiring and routine-breaking, they bring new energy into the writing.

I had six new books come out in 2019, that I’ve been working since 2017 and 2018. They were all different and challenged me in new ways.

I took on new challenges like writing a theatre show that I performed with a wonderful friend. I was part of a theatre devising group and we performed to an audience of five. I was briefly on BBC talking about diversity in children’s books.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-48225791/bame-the-children-s-bookshop-selling-diversity

I visited many schools, met with teachers and librarians across the world, told stories, inspired new tales with young people of all ages.

2020 is gearing up to be a busy year too. I can already reveal the cover of two new books that I wrote which will be published. Here is a quick glimpse – I’ll be posting more info soon. Watch this space.

While fake news, nationalism and climate crisis threatens goodwill and existence of our planet, this is a time for stories – to imagine a better life, to mine for wisdom from lessons learnt in the past and sculpt a new world for our future generations.

I wish you all a wonderful 2020 in which hope reigns despair and acceptance wins over hatred.

British South Asian KidLit Creators

I got tagged today by a friend for a question about who is writing books for South Asians in the UK. And we all tagged people we knew and then I realised, it was good to create a list we can all share.

As the aunt of mixed-raced kids whose cultures are meshed in and we feed them quite a lot of both Indian and British stories, it’s important for our children to see stories that are about them too.

So I’ve started a list here. If you have more people to add to this, please first check if they’re part of South Asian heritage and if they are British either by residency or by nationality. If so, do message me on twitter at @csoundar and I’ll add them to this list.

Also I’ve indicated ages the authors have books in. If you’re one of the listed authors and you want to change it, do let me know. This is just an indication for parents and teachers/ librarians. Authors are always experimenting and writing new things.

British South Asian KidLit Authors

Name Age-range of books written Twitter
Handle
Website
Chitra
Soundar
3 plus @csoundar www.chitrasoundar.com
Nizrana
Farook
9 plus @NizRite  
Nadia
Shireen
3 plus @NadiaShireen etsy.me/2E8Fo5h  
Smriti
Prasadam-Halls
0 plus @smritiPH Smirti.co.uk
Yasmin
Rahman
YA @YasminwithanE  
Swapna
Haddow
7 plus @swapnahaddow Swapnahaddow.co.uk
Sita Brahmachari 13 plus @sitabrahmachari Sitabrahmachari.com
Savita Kalhan YA @savitakalhan Savitakalhan.com
Bali Rai 9 plus @balirai Balirai.co.uk
Nikesh Shukla YA @nikeshshukla Nikesh-shukla.com
Ranjith Singh 3 plus @ranjiththeauthor  
Rashmi
Sirdeshpande  
  @rashmiwriting rashmisirdeshpande.com
Sufiya
Ahmed
YA @sufiyaahmed https://mbalit.co.uk/client/sufiya-ahmed/  
Jasbinde
Bilan
9 plus @jasinbath  
Sarwat
Chadda
9 plus @sarwatchadda  
Narinder Dhami 9 plus @narinderd  
Jamila
Gavin
3 plus @jamilaji http://www.jamilagavin.co.uk
Irfan
Master
9 plus @irfan_master http://irfanmaster.com  
Taran
Matharu
9 plus @TaranMatharu1 http://authortaranmatharu.com  
Zanim
Mian
9 plus@Zendibble http://www.sweetapplebooks.com  
Serena
Patel
9 plus@SerenaKPatel    
Leila
Rasheed
7 plus@LeilaR https://leilarasheeddotcom.wordpress.com  

British South Asian KidLit Illustrators

Name Twitter Instagram Website
Poonam Mistry @pmistryartist https://www.poonam-mistry.com/  
Rikin Parekh @r1k1n https://www.rikinparekh.com/  
Lucy Banaji @Lucy_Banaji lucybanaji.com
Baljinder Kaur@Ballyjinderbaljinderkaur.com
Jen KhatunJen Khatunhttps://www.jenkhatun.com/

Also check out http://www.speaking-volumes.org.uk/projects/breaking-new-ground/ for over 100 BAME creators in the UK.

Phew! That was quite a year!

It has been a roller-coaster of a year. Half-way through the year, I left my grown-up day job and became a full-time writer and storyteller.

Since June, I’ve been writing, performing, telling stories in festivals, bookshops and schools. It’s been six months of this new life where I get to write as long as I want, visit schools and work with children on their stories any day of the week and travel across the world to meet readers.

I’ve also started teaching a course at City Uni, on writing picture books and junior fiction, which is a full circle because I started my career as a teacher, way back in 1992.

My first picture book class at City Uni

I’ve done over 24 events for children, 20 for grown-up and visited 44 schools in the year. I got shortlisted twice and won my first award. So all in all, it has been a year of wonderful book stuff.

You’re Safe With Me (illustrated by Poonam Mistry, published by Lantana Publishing) came out in May 2019 and has received rave reviews. We followed that up with the Christmasy You’re Snug With Me (illustrated by Poonam Mistry, published by Lantana Publishing) and it has made some of the Best of 2018 lists.

Pattan’s Pumpkin (illustrated by Frané Lessac, published by Otter-Barry Books) came out in paperback with a new cover. In the Farmer Falgu (illustrated by Kanika Nair) series, Book 3 and Book 4 has been released into the UK by Red Robin Books.

It’s been a busy 6 months daydreaming, imagining, writing, performing and working with children and adults on their stories. I’m going back home to India to relax, rejuvenate and yes, research before I head to the US again for the release of my next book with Candlewick Press.

Next year promises to be as busy as this one was. I’m grateful to everyone who has given me an opportunity to write and perform this year and hope to bring more stories to everyone in 2019. I wish all of you a wonderful festive season with your family and friends. Have a happy new year. May your new year bring a lot of joyous moments.

 

Lists, editor’s choice and more

This week has been brilliant so far. I’m recovering from a bout of flu and I need all the good news I can get.

Earlier this week we found out that Pattan’s Pumpkin, published by Candlewick Press in the US has been added to the 2018 Notable Social Studies Book list! It’s an amazing honour and also I’m glad many schools and children will be able to find out more about this wonderful story.

Then a casual glance at last year’s round-ups of books published in the US led me to this wonderful list. The School Library Journal had created a 2017 list of folktales and fairytales and Pattan’s Pumpkin is featured in that too.

And some exciting news about my upcoming title with Lantana Publishing. You’re Safe With Me has won a lot of praise for its wonderful artwork and the stunning design. Fiona Noble has chosen it as her editor’s choice for the 2018 May releases of this year in The Bookseller this week!

You’re Safe With Me is also chosen as an empathy read by Empathy Lab. Find out more here.

And if you have missed this news from before A Jar of Pickles and a Pinch of Justice is on the shortlist for the Surrey Libraries Children’s Book Award.