Nope. I am not moving. My book baby is. Why is my Hair Curly? is officially now part of the Pratilipi family under the Westland/Red Panda banner. What has changed? On the surface, not much. The book will soon be available in paperback, ebook and, audio. However, being part of the Pratilipi family makes it…
I woke up this morning to an email outlining how many unsold copies (approx 1700) of my book Why is my Hair Curly? is languishing in a warehouse somewhere. The notion of time ticking while Westland wraps up its accounting and brings its life as an entity to a close, lit a fire in me.…
“Please can we talk today” The message launched a flare of hope in my heart that had me leaping out of bed and brushing my teeth. As I caught up on the day’s news while I waited for her to respond, a cold chill wrapped itself around me. My Twitter timeline told the story. Our…
I was logged in to work, early for a Friday morning that is, when Laddu, also logged into her school iPad in the same room, walked up to me. Her face was serious. I removed my ear phones and gave her my full attention preparing myself to send a note to her teacher whatever the…
An article I wrote for Parent Connect appeared online today. It is about the need for diversity in literature.
Join me at 9:00 pm IST/10:30 am EST December 24th. This was a fun, lively and engaging discussion. You can watch on The New Indian Express webpage and their social media channels.
I was online middle of the night November 28, 2020 to participate in this online literary festival. Below is a link to the recording.
Swapna Sanand interviews me for the Financial Express.
I was up at 4:45 am and showered and in front of my computer, a cup of kaapi in hand, at 5:30 am. Today was the first of my virtual school visits to promote my book. My screen was filled with eager, hopeful seventh graders sitting half way across the world in New Delhi, India.…
The package lay on the floor, tossed carelessly by a child who found it on the front porch. It lay there unclaimed until I took a break from work to get some water. I picked it off the floor, noticed the absence of any Amazon branding and wondered who might have sent me something. As…
So, Women’s Web published their review of my book “Why is my Hair Curly?” on their website. Hop on over to read and let me know what you thought.
A few months before the book release date was fixed, I woke up around 2:30 am in the morning to a message that Audible had agreed to create the Audio version of the book. I remember feeling excited, like someone had found worth in the story to give it voice. I say this as someone…
Early on during the book writing process, I was told the book would have illustrations. Me, being me, assumed that it would be picture book like with glossy pictures and text that flowed around the pictures. Clearly, I had no idea about the MG book market. I found later that that the illustrations would be…
I end the day, my heart full, my eyes teary, and overcome with emotion. All through the day, I watched as friends and family shared posts on their social media. They accompanied links to my books with lengthy write-ups, an ode to the time we have known each other. Each of these posts were heartfelt,…
The day is finally here. Year-long labor of love, my children’s book “Why is my hair curly?” by Red Panda (an imprint of Westland Books – An Amazon company) is out in Kindle and Audible formats today. The paperback version will be out on July 20th, 2020. Get your book at: getbook.at/WhyIsMyHairCurly Join me for…
I have broken down every alternate day this week. Some days it’s been a full meltdown replete with ugly crying. Other days, it has been that heavy feeling in the head, with the tears hovering right inside my eyelids, threatening to fall. Today, the emotions are of a different kind. I received the final versions…
So, I have news. “Why is my hair curly?” will be available on Amazon in a few weeks in Kindle format. The physical book will take a couple of months to be available given the lockdown in India. While I wait for the book to be available and permission to share the cover for the…
Miracles happen. They do! In July this year, a publisher from Red Panda, a children’s imprint of Westland Publishing (an Amazon company) in India reached out through my blog. She asked if I was interested in writing children’s fiction. I hemmed and hawed and eventually jumped at the opportunity. For someone who primarily writes creative…
I kept running into people on twitter raving about this book. They described it as cute and gushed over it. I am sucker for rom-coms especially the cutesy ones so I looked for it in my library and placed a hold. I finished the book in a couple of hours. It is an easy read,…
Read more Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi By Sandhya Menon
The book came in a yellow envelope with a hand written address. Ammu and Pattu have taken to associating anything not a standard size mail as gifts for them. For once, I did not have to disappoint them. The book slid out of the cover in its rich chocolate-brown cover and the girls were hooked.…
Lakshmi Iyer 