Kashi House

View Original

Cover Reveal: 'Stories for South Asian Supergirls'

To mark International Day of the Girl Child, Kashi House is excited to announce its first children's title, which aims to inspire the next generation of South Asian Super Women.

The first book of its kind, Stories for South Asian Supergirls is a treasure trove of 50 illustrated biographies of remarkable but under-celebrated South Asian women from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The fabulous cover revealed for the first time today was designed by the phenomenally talented team at Kiss Branding.

From a prominent suffragette (Sophia Duleep Singh) to the Indian princess who spied for Britain in World War II (Noor Inayat Khan) and a Booker Prize-winning author (Arundhati Roy), each biography is illustrated with a striking portrait by a team of talented female South Asian artists, making the book a collector’s item in its own right.

Author Raj Kaur Khaira, founder of the innovative Pink Ladoo Project, has long been a champion for the need to redress the imbalance for young girls of colour by empowering them to break new ground for themselves and to inspire others in the process. She was inspired to create the book after seeing the impact of the acclaimed Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls:

'Supergirls challenges society’s ideas about who South Asian women are and the types of women South Asian girls should become. Through the fascinating stories of these incredible women, South Asian girls will have a chance to dream about lives for themselves that radically differ from the limited narratives written for them by their culture, wider society and the media.'

Khaira, who is donating 100% of her royalties from the book proceeds to charity, has become a prominent figure following the success of the Pink Ladoo Project, an initiative encouraging the equal treatment of new born girls in South Asian families. It has become one of the most eminent feminist movements for South Asian women globally, with a following in communities across the UK, Canada, the US and Australia. It has propelled Khaira to be regarded as an influential and credible thought-leader:

'Representation matters on so many levels but particularly for young girls of colour. There is so little diversity in the mainstream and when South Asian women are portrayed, their depiction is often limited and laced with harmful stereotypes. The impact on young girls of seeing a character who looks like them but only behaves in certain ways is problematic and stifling. We need to give girls a chance to write their own stories instead of making them feel like they have to choose from the limited roles that are written for them by the media and broader society. This book will make it easier for South Asian girls to challenge the status quo by giving them role models to look to.'

Aimed at South Asian girls aged 7+, Stories for South Asian Supergirls will truly be a book for all the ages, with parents treasuring this collection of biographies as much as their young children will enjoy reading them.

You can pre-order your author-signed copy today here. The official release date is 8 March 2019.

Learn more about the Pink Ladoo Project here.

For media enquiries, please get in touch here.