Hong Kong mothers find success writing children's books
When two women couldn't find the right reading material for their children, necessity became the mother of publication
Bhakti Mathur wanted to give her elder son a sense of his Indian heritage. Diana David wanted her daughter to learn the alphabet using Hong Kong objects she could recognise. Neither of them could find children's books to suit those needs, so they wrote their own.
Mathur wondered how to tell her son Shiv about the festival of Holi as the annual spring extravaganza, also known as the festival of colours. She eventually wrote a book that began a seven-part Amma, Tell Me series, stories about Indian mythology and festivals.
"My sons were born in Hong Kong. In India, the whole community celebrates Holi. Hong Kong Indians also celebrate it, but in a smaller way. So I decided to write and tell him the story in the way I wanted to tell him."
She was later introduced to a graphic designer in Mumbai who illustrated the book with colourful and pudgy characters to bring the stories of the multifarious gods to life.
Mathur's mother was a librarian, so she was exposed to books and stories in her childhood.
"One of the first books I remember is Horton Hears a Who! by Dr Seuss being read to me by my mother while I sat on her lap," she says. "I grew up in India surrounded by mythology. Although I didn't have any books on it, my grandma, my mum and my nanny would tell me fascinating mythical tales.