∴ Winner of the South Asia Book Award

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SABA award sealYesterday, the South Asia National Outreach Consortium (SANOC) announced that Maya is the winner of the 2017 South Asia Book Award for Grades 5 and Under!

I am ecstatic about this news, which connects Maya with libraries and schools across the United States, and more specifically connects the book with young children of the South Asian community. I was once a young child in that community, and except for Tanuja Desai Hidier’s Born Confused, never once read a book for young people that featured South Asian characters, so this is both an award for my young self and for Maya.

The South Asia Book Award for Grades 6 and Up went to What Elephants Know by Eric Dinerstein (Disney-Hyperion), a novel about a young elephant driver set in a jungle in the Nepalese Borderlands. And the Honor Books shortlist includes The Boy and the Bindi by fellow Canadian Vivek Shreya!

I’ll be heading to Lansing, Michigan, in October for the award ceremony, following a tour of schools and libraries in the area. I look forward to meeting the team that made the award possible!