Dev and Ollie

10/04/2024

Can’t believe I visited Dev Patel’s primary school recently with my book series, Dev and Ollie! The school still proudly celebrates his work in Slumdog Millionaire. I bet they can’t wait to update the wall with pictures of and accolades from Monkey Man!!

Way to go Dev, Dev and Ollie are cheering you on 😊🙌🏽

✊

08/03/2024

I’d forgotten how much I used to enjoy primary school visits with my children’s book series, Dev and Ollie.

The last 14 months since the launch of The Black Rose, I’ve been focusing on promoting this book only, neglecting Dev and Ollie. Today, I had the most wonderful day at Longfield Primary School, celebrating World Book Day with children as young as 4.

One question I was asked by many curious little minds was, ‘Why did you write the Dev and Ollie stories?’

My answer without using big words like representation and inclusion: ‘Because we live in a beautiful country with so many different communities, like I am seeing right here in this classroom. And I felt sad to see that there weren’t many books for children with different characters.’

Children at Longfield Primary were attentive and enthusiastic, and it was a pleasure to share my stories - Kite Crazy (about the largest kite festival in the world), Colour Carnival (about the festival of colours, Holi) and Camel Caper (about the most quirky camel fair) - with them.

And they enjoyed themselves so much during the kite making workshops that I heard a few 5 year old girls singing ‘This girl is on fire’ during the activity. An apt song considering it’s International Women’s Day today! How did they know? 😂

The icing on the cake - my husband went to Longfield Primary as did the Slumdog Millionaire actor, That’s right, Dev and Ollie indirectly met Dev Patel today! 😊

Dev and Ollie books are available on Amazon 🙏🏾

05/01/2023

🎉The 6-year-old me celebrating! 🎉

If there is ever a need for representation, it’s in your childhood days. It’s when children don’t see themselves in books, toys, cartoons, etc that they start believing they don’t matter. And once the seed of an inferiority complex is planted, we all know what that does to our self-esteem.

Meet Kavi Sharma, American Girl’s latest South Asian doll, a monumental milestone in the world of representation. Some may say it’s tokenism, a tick the box exercise. Some may say it’s commercialism and the brand realising how they’re missing out on a big market. Some may say she’s not brown enough. I must say, I was a little conflicted in my views when I came across this. Having slept on it, I came to the conclusion that what I feel or think is far less important than what little girls think. Because I know that if the 6-year-old me saw this doll, she would be jumping with joy and pride. I probably wouldn’t have harboured my complex for decades because I would be confident that I matter.

So, imagine all the little girls out there, holding this doll in their hands, feeling seen. Imagine their soaring self-confidence. Imagine them being equipped to fight colourism and racism instead of succumbing.

From ’s Barbie doll to now this, representation matters and it should be celebrated!

I encourage you to take a look at and for the work they’re doing to make little girls feel seen. Tag any other doll companies here who deserve recognition.

Photo credit:

25/10/2022

✨Anything is possible. Yes, really! ✨

The next time your children doubt their chances of succeeding in what they do because of their caste, creed or colour, tell them this.

Tell them ain’t no mountain high enough.

Tell them to dream big.

Tell them to reach for the stars.

Tell them they can fly.

Tell yourself anything is possible.

Because if a country that colonised and ruled India for almost a century (1858 to 1947) can now embrace a British Asian (of Indian origin), as their PM, anything is possible.

Here’s to change. Here’s to meritocracy. Here’s to Rishi Sunak!

Photo credit:

30/08/2022

When India’s most prestigious newspaper, The Times of India, recommends your children’s book…

Feeling blessed for Dev and Ollie - Colour Carnival to have made it on the top 5 list. I only just came across this article, thanks to my brother informing me today.

This is why writers write. Recognition, appreciation and being able to impart cultural knowledge to children beats any monetary reward.

A massive thank you to you all for giving Dev and Ollie so much love in the last few years.

WE DID IT!! 🥰❤️🙌🏽🙏🏾

Here's a look at five children's books that will help your kid learn more about the Holi festival. In addition, these books also make for great gifts!

04/06/2022

Yup, this is me. I still can’t believe I had the honour of meeting Her Majesty the Queen for the Uk-India Year of Culture in 2017. As cliched as it sounds, I couldn’t stop rubbing my eyes when I received the invite. Her Majesty’s aura is indescribable. To say the least, she is enigmatic, engaging and so very humble. When you’re around her, you just can’t stop smiling the entire time (and pinching yourself, of course).

This jubilee weekend got me reflecting on the year 2000 when I moved to the UK. There were four things I noticed immediately:

1) The weather, of course.
2) How everyone dressed in a lot of black.
3) The silent ‘s’ in a million street/location names! Yes, I was one of those who pronounced the iconic Grosvenor Square as Gros-ve-nor, not Gro-ve-nor.
4) The diversity. I didn’t stand out in the crowd, unlike in Japan.

Britain is where I found myself, where I grew to become the person I am today. Britain is the land of opportunity for me. It’s where I started with a career in IT. Then when I quit to pursue my dream, I had people from all backgrounds attending my Bollywood dance classes. In 2010, my dance company, Threebee, became the first to reach the semi-finals on BGT. When I wrote children’s books, I was honoured with the opportunity of meeting The Queen (for which I will forever be grateful to and ). Britain has always celebrated me, my achievements, and my culture…over and over again. Today, I am proud to be celebrating Britain, The Queen, and her contribution to making Britain such a vibrant and inclusive society. !

What have your experiences been as a British Asian here, whether you were born here or not? How are you celebrating Her Majesty?

09/03/2022

So excited to be doing a LIVE session on Instagram tomorrow with Kitabe Club. Do join us at 3.30pm GMT, 10pm IST 😊🙏🏾

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca3i_qjvtpv/?utm_medium=copy_link

08/03/2022

Happy International Women’s Day!

theblackroseway • Original Audio

27/02/2022

Numbers speak the truth - still so much work to be done for better representation in children’s books! Thank you for this share

with
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Children need both mirrors and windows through the books they read. Books around them should represent diversity of culture, language, gender, race, class, perspective and many more topics.

Since 2015, we have seen the percent of Asian books go from 3.3% to 9%. Though we are finally seeing a positive trend in representation, there is a lot more that needs to be done to optimize representation.

24/01/2022

Nothing to say except THIS MADE MY DAY 😊🙏🏾

For a children’s writer, there’s nothing more gratifying than a review directly from the end reader.

Thank you for sharing this with me! I am literally flying high like a kite myself!

Have you read any of our books yet? Which one is your favourite? Share your review and we’ll post it there 🥰🙏🏾

14/01/2022

Happy Makar Sankranti everyone!

This is undoubtedly one of my favourite Indian festivals. I vividly remember flying kites with umpteen cousins from dawn till dusk on roof terraces.

Thank you The Culture Tree] and The New York Public Library] for a wonderful opportunity to share memories of this festival and snippets of our book Kite Crazy with you!

Do check out the video (link below) for an educational and fun glimpse of this festival 😊🙏

The Culture Tree] with
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This week Indians are celebrating various harvest festivals of Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Magh Bihu.
I grew up in North India, where was celebrated with a lot of fervor. The skies used to be dotted infinitely with kites and terraces buzzing with people.

Learn about the colorful Kite Festival from India through this virtual event we did for The New York Public Library]
Listen to authors Mona Sehgal and Shweta Aggarwal and their stories inspired by the Kite Festivals. Plus, illustrator shares her ideas about how you too can become an illustrator!

https://vimeo.com/showcase/7669311/video/534945075

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06/01/2022

✨Celebrating Makar Sankranti / Gujarat’s Kite Festival with a book reading and a kite making activity ✨

Ok, I’ll admit, the video is like 2 years old. kindly invited me to do a live session for them a couple of years ago and since then this has been sitting in my camera roll! But it’s never too late to share, right?

The first book in the Dev & Ollie series celebrates Gujarat’s Kite Festival called Uttarayan.

DYK - Gujarat has a state holiday for 2 days around 14th January every year to celebrate this harvest festival with hundreds of thousands of colourful kites filling the sky!?

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon (link in bio) to learn about this colourful, ‘kiteful’ festival along with lots of fun facts about the festival.