Interviews

Q) Tell us about how you happened to write for Pratham Books?
Pratham Books got in touch with me as they were wanting to do a quality book for children on India and I think they'd seen my illustrations in my husband William Dalrymple's 'City of Djinns' and thought I'd be the right person to do it!

Q) What was the experience like for you?
I loved doing the book. We used pictures I'd already done and I wrote an accompanying text ( and got my children to edit it!) and then I worked closely with the designer, Vivek Sahni, in Delhi (which was great fun) to try and fuse the whole thing together.

Q) Are you happy with the way the book shaped up?
Yes, I think it's worked very well: the reproduction quality is good, the colours are excellent and I think the text and the pictures look very good together.

Q) Would you like to share any thoughts on books for children?
I adore children's books. Right now I think the West is undergoing a boom in children's literature: the quality and the quantity you can now see in the shops over there is phenomenal. Here in India I think there is a boom-in -waiting. I think people are now ready for new things: books that reflect children's lives here and now in India. I think there's a very exciting opportunity to be had for those in the children's book trade out here.

Q) What do you think of the work that Pratham Books is doing?
I have particularly loved contributing to what Pratham is doing: helping improve literacy throughout India by subsidizing libraries. I think one of the most important things you can give a child is the ability to read and write and if you can go one step further and actually make them really LOVE books - well, I think you've done a great job and I will be very proud to have helped this in any way.