From Verve
Five years ago when Sailaja Joshi was pregnant with her first child, she was surprised by the dearth of relevant and impactful books geared towards Indian-American children. A self-confessed bibliophile with a background in anthropology and sociology and a deep-rooted interest in studying the Indian diaspora, Joshi realised that there was a void in children’s literature about the experiences of Indian-American children. “In the American publishing world, there are five times as many books about dogs, trucks and little boys than there are about children of colour,” she says. “And, when you can’t see yourself reflected in books, the message is clear: you don’t matter.”
Determined to change that, Joshi founded Bharat Babies in 2014, a publishing company that aims to fill bookshelves across America with age-appropriate, culturally sensitive and visually vibrant books that tell tales of brown kids growing up in diasporic communities. “Over the last two years we have interviewed over hundred parents and community members to understand what they need,” says Joshi, “and it was evident that they were looking for a line designed to grow with a child’s mental and physical capabilities.”