Interview with author Kashmira Sheth
by Aline Pereira*

Born in Bhavnagar, India Kashmira Sheth moved to the United States at the age of 17. She's the award-winning author of picture books, middle grade and young adult fiction, including Monsoon Afternoon, Blue Jasmine, and Boys Without Names.

She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
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Your most recent book, Boys Without Names, is the moving story of Gopal, a teenager who, in an attempt to help his family financially, finds himself trapped in a sweatshop job. Can you tell us how the book came about and why you decided to explore the topic of child labor?
     
A few years ago news about child labor made headlines in various media. It was a shocking revelation that goods made by children were sold by brand-name multinational companies throughout the world, including in Europe and the US. These stories caught my agent’s eye and she suggested that I write a story about child labor.

Right away I was interested in the idea because growing up in India I had seen children working in roadside cafes, selling things in railway stations and working on farms. I knew they were not privileged like me to attend school, play, and enjoy their childhood. Before I wrote the book I did some initial research on the subject and continued my research during a trip to India.

Boys Without Names is also a testament to the power of storytelling to connect people and give hope. The scenes where Gopal, defying the imposed silence, tells the other child laborers his stories and listen to theirs are unforgettable. What can you tell us about incorporating storytelling into the narrative framework of this novel?

When I started thinking about child labor and all the cruelty my protagonist must endure, I wanted to give him some special gifts. Gopal has a loving family and a strong bond with nature. But I knew that in the course of the story family and nature must be taken away, and yet he must have something that can keep his spirit alive and hopeful. Since Gopal lives in a country that has a rich tradition of oral storytelling, it was natural that he would have heard many stories. I knew those stories would sustain him and keep him dreaming of his freedom.

When I was growing up, stories were a big part of my life. Each festival, each celebration had some tale behind it.
In my family stories were told and retold. During winter months we read the Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. I have very fond memories of this. That is why
I was able to incorporate storytelling in the narrative framework of the novel.

What do you hope readers will take away from Boys Without Names?

Too often we see news about poverty and suffering. It is easy to forget those reports because we are not invested in the people who are suffering. They are far away from our own safe and secure world. However, when we read books, these people and their suffering stay with us.

In Boys Without Names Gopal and the other boys’ lives are so different from most children’s lives in the U.S, but I hope readers connect with the boys through their stories. I was thrilled to hear some young readers say that they felt like they were one of the boys. Reading Boys Without Names transported them to the hot attic in Mumbai and they were able to empathize with the boys.

I believe the readers who are invested in Gopal, Dimpled Chin, Thick Fingers and the others boys will be enraged, saddened, and touched by their stories, and will feel connected to them. I hope young readers will learn something about the beauty and strength of the human spirit, and about our connectedness, from their story. And maybe reach out and help others who are less fortunate.

In a blog post, speaking about moving on to your next project, you have said: “I can't leave Gopal and all the children who are like him.” Can you talk a little bit about that?
     
After writing each of my stories I move on to the next one. Boys Without Names is an exception. I can’t forget their innocent faces and their suffering. Whenever I come across an article about child labor I think about Gopal and the other boys. I go back to the books and websites that I used for this project.

That is what happened when I wrote my blog post. One of the Indian newspapers had a story about child labor. In India alone sixty million children are working instead of going to school. Worldwide there are 218 million children involved in child labor, each one not unlike the boys I wrote about. I also stay involved by following stories about child labor and those who fight against it, and supporting charities in India that educate disadvantaged youth.

What first drew you to write stories connected to your Indian roots?

I feel that it was my immigrant experience that drew me back to my roots. When my children were growing up I read with them. Growing up in India I had not read English language classics like Charlotte’s Web, Sarah Plain and Tall, or The Secret Garden. While reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's books I started thinking more and more about my own childhood. It was natural that when I began writing I went to my own childhood for inspiration and emotions.

Like most immigrants, when I first came here I tried to survive, to fit into this society, to become part of American culture. Now writing these stories has made me come full circle, so to speak.

Several of your books take place in Mumbai and deal with contemporary issues faced by Indians in India and elsewhere. Which of your books would you say most reflect your own cultural background?
     
I have some part of my cultural background in each of my books.  For many fiction writers the first book is often autobiographical. I’m no exception. Blue Jasmine is probably the closest to my own childhood experience. Even though I spend several years in Mumbai, I was born and lived (with my grandparents) in a smaller city called Bhavnagar until the age of eight. I inserted a lot of my childhood in that novel, from the garden to Sanskrit hymns. One other book that reflects my family background is Keeping Corner. It is based on my great-aunt’s story and many details were drawn from her life.

How much of the strong sense of place we get from your novels––you make Mumbai really come to life in your books!–– are you able to recreate from memory, and how much do you have to research or re-experience through traveling in order to write about this or that place?
     
Thank you! I draw upon my memory as well as new experiences to bring the place alive in my stories.  I always have a general picture of a place from my own memories.  Sometimes, I draw on the experience of family and friends, or on travel experiences, to fill in details.  For example, in Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet Jeeta goes to The Hanging Gardens in Mumbai.  I used to go there as a child so I have fond memories of it. However, I didn’t remember the cannon ball tree. That was something I noticed when I re-visited the gardens and then incorporated into the story.

In Keeping Corner, a semi-biographical tribute to your great-aunt,12 year-old Leela is condemned by custom to spend the rest of her life as a shunned widow after her husband dies. Why did you decide to write a story based on your aunt’s life and how has the process of writing it affected you?

I believe some stories hibernate within us for many years. Keeping Corner was with me for decades. When I was nine I visited my great-aunt. I knew she was a child widow but fortunately by that time the custom of child marriage was broken. I didn’t have to worry about my having the same fate as she had, but I did think how unfair and cruel the custom was. I felt her pain and her story stayed with me.

When I began writing I asked my dad many questions about my great-aunt’s life as well as about life in small villages in India. He was a passionate storyteller and I gathered a lot of material from him.

While I was working on the story my dad passed away and I couldn’t go back to the notes and tape recording of his voice. I abandoned the project. Luckily, that’s when my first novel, Blue Jasmine, was accepted for publication and I became busy revising it. After that my second novel, Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet, came out. So by the time I went back to Keeping Corner I was ready and determined to write the story.

What about your two intergenerational picture books, My Dadima Wears a Sari and Monsoon Afternoon? What inspired them?

My Dadima Wears a Sari was inspired by my mom and my daughters, Rupa and Neha. My mom lives with me and she always dresses in a sari. Growing up, my two daughters were fascinated by this. In fact, I used my daughters’ names in the book. I sent Yoshiko Jaeggi, the illustrator, some pictures of my mother in her sari and of my daughters while she was working on the illustrations.

Monsoon Afternoon was inspired by my own childhood. It was a collage of memories of monsoon afternoons with my family that I was able to capture into a story.

Who are some of the authors writing for kids and young adults today, in the US and/or in India that you most admire?

There are so many!… Christopher Paul Curtis, Narinder Dhami, Kevin Henkes, Uma Krishnaswami, Lois Lowry, Linda Sue Park, Sara Pennypacker, Mitali Perkins, Sandhya Rao, Vandana Singh, Maggie Stiefvater, Mildrid D. Taylor, Jacqueline Woodson…

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working on multiple projects.  The first one is a middle grade novel about an immigrant child who is torn between his own desire to stay in the U.S. and his mother’s wish to return to India. It is set in my own neighborhood in Madison, Wisconsin.

The second one is a chapter book/young middle grade novel. It’s about an Indian-American child, Ishan Mehra. He’s a lovable, artistic, and mischievous eight-year-old boy. His out-of-the-box thinking gets him in scrapes and trouble but somehow it also gets him out of them. I hope to develop Ishan’s character into a series.

The third project is a picture book called Tiger in My Soup. It will be published in the Spring of 2013 from Peachtree Publishers.

*Aline Pereira is PaperTigers' Managing Editor and Producer

Posted October 2010

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