Fairy tales and superheroesare amongst the few children’s books that our generation grew up reading. No matter how much we indulge in gadgets and the digital world, children’s books are still popular among families giving time to bond with one another. But how many of you have actually had a chance to meet the author of your favourite book? The icing on the cake is when that author lives so close to home and belongs to the same roots as yours; let us introduce you to Miltonian Diksha Pal Narayan. An author, storyteller, community builder, culturally rooted, and an active part of the society who didn’t only present her son with her first book cover printed with his own name, “Ved and friends,” but believes to have her inner child active at all times.

Diksha Pal Narayan launched her fourth book, ‘NoNo Nana,’ at Milton’s Secret Garden by our Town Hall. It features four short stories packed with humor, mystery, and a lot of fun. Diksha’s mantra ‘Making Culture Cool’ takes another form with this new chapter book series. It is the first of four planned books.

The book was launched by Mayor of Milton, Gordon Krantz, and Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism of Ontario, MPP Parm Gill. The book launch took place in the courtyard of Town Hall in Milton. The event had Canadian Indian Association President Mr. Jag Mohan Mainra, Councillor Rick Di Lorenzo, Arts Milton’s Kaitlyn Patience, and other prominent members of the Milton Community like Mrs. Hassu Bihari, Mrs. Margaret Saliba, and Mrs. Jyoti Mehta in attendance.

Diksha Pal Narayan is an Author of four children’s books and is the recipient of the Martyrs Award in 2013. She is the founder of South Asian Mommies of Milton, a group that helps over 600 mothers of South Asian descent with anything under the sun they may be going through. Her strong community values are visible as she serves as a board member of Arts Milton and the Canadian Indian Association.

How did the idea of Nono-Nana strike?

I was always naughty of the three siblings, so; ideas weren’t a problem. I just needed to go back memory lane to pick some mischief from my childhood. I do regular storytime with children, and they also let me into their lives and tap into their experiences. Like the title, the story is about a real boy whose nickname is Nana, but his mother always calls him No No Nana. He, too, would get into all sorts of trouble! Inspiration, to be honest, is all around us.

What inspired you to pursue a career as a children’s book author?

I was completely unaware of the lack of representation of South Asian children’s content until I had my child. When I was looking for books to read to my child, as my parents did with us when we were kids, I saw that there weren’t many books available. The ones we had from India were catered more to the Indian readers. So I took it on myself to make content for our Canadian children of South Asian heritage. My dream is to see many more children’s books with South Asian faces on them.

If you go to amazon.ca and search for “Diksha Narayan” you will find her new book, a long with her previous other books for purchase online.

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