I Am Brown

I’ve loved everything Lantana have published (see here) so I was delighted when I was asked to host the very first leg of the blog tour for their latest picture book, Ashok Banker’s I Am Brown – which is delightful. I asked Ashok to talk about the book, why it was written, the importance of being/seeing brown (because this book, of course, isn’t only for people of colour – it’s a celebration and education to those who aren’t brown themselves).

I was a brown child of very mixed descent (Irish-Portuguese-Sri Lankan-Indian) with parents and family of diverse religious backgrounds (Christian mainly, with Hindu with some Muslim and Jewish antecedents too) and personally following no faith, religious or spiritual beliefs. Though I have an Indian name and was born and brought up in Bombay (now Mumbai), my mother tongue was English, we ate beef, pork, mutton, most of the family went to church if we wanted to but were under no compulsion to go, and generally had a very cosmopolitan and diverse group of friends and social circle. 

We ate everything under the sun – Continental, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Goan, Mexican, and even Indian food at times. I never conformed to gender stereotypes. I was and still am neuro-atypical with certain unique characteristics that I prefer not to spell out in public.

The sheer diversity and inclusivity of my childhood and upbringing and personality were very unique in India, where people like I were (and I still am) a micro-minority, or as I like to call myself, “a minority of One”. Yet obviously I existed, and still do! Even after coming to the USA over five years ago and having read and watched widely all my life, I’ve never seen myself reflected in any work of fiction or film. My entire career as a author has been dedicated to writing books that portray the most diverse variety of characters.

Yet I knew that while adult fiction now has many more books that capture diversity (though still not people like myself, not that I’ve found anyway), there’s a complete dearth of it in children’s books and picture books. I’ve recently returned to my first passion, children’s books, and I wanted to write a picture book for many years. But it had to be one that captured my diversity, and sheer “normalcy” if I may use the word. My brownness was not a racial identity to me; it was a part of my joy of being, of celebrating life in all its diversity.  

Picture books are a visual medium and the first exposure a child has to literature.There’s a mountain of wonderful picture books featuring white children. They’re such beautiful books with wonderful messages. Every child deserves to be seen. As a brown child from a sub-continent where over one and a half billion brown people live, I grew up without ever seeing a single picture book featuring anyone like me. Even now, when there are so many lovely picture books published out of India and elsewhere featuring brown children, they tend to represent the majority population. By which I mean, Hindu, upper class, upper caste in India and White, Judeo-Christian, upper class in the US, UK and Europe.

That’s fine, because everyone deserves representation, and I have many favorite books that I own and reread, as well as lovely new ones I keep discovering. But I felt there should be picture books that children like myself could relate to as well: Non-Hindu, irreligious, low-caste/outcaste, mixed-race, a hodgepodge of religions, cultures, nationalities, ethnicities, identities, communities, yet adhering rigidly to none, identifying with all of them in some ways and none of them in other ways. So many seemingly contradictory heritages all contained within one person! The fact that the person just happens to be brown is a happy fact and one that I felt deserved to be front and centre.  From that seed came I AM BROWN.

It only took me 75 books to write my first picture book, and crafting it, revising it, keeping it simple and basic without any literary frills or stylistic flourishes was a part of the vision. The simple factual statements reflect the simple fact of my/our existence. We are. We live. We love. We exist. We are brown. We are awesome. We are you!Despite the name and brownness, I AM BROWN is not only about children like me. It’s about and for all children everywhere. There is so much more beauty that isn’t skin-deep. We can be anyone, anywhere, eat, work, achieve anything we put our minds to. It’s a book celebrating the things that unite us, the joy of being a child. I hope you enjoy reading, owning and sharing I AM BROWN with a child in your life. Please do share your joy on your blog, social media, Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever else you wish. And do consider buying a copy (or two, or ten) to gift to other children, brown or otherwise, to share the joy of childhood and love of life that bursts from its wonderful brown pages!

Happy Reading!Love,Ashok

And up next…

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nikperring

Nik Perring is a short story writer, author, teacher of writing, and editor from the UK. His stories have been published widely all over the world. His books include the widely celebrated Not So Perfect (Roastbooks 2010), A Book of Beautiful Words; and Beautiful Trees; and he co-wrote Freaks!(TFP/HarperCollins, 2012).

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