Vasanti Unka is a New Zealand writer, illustrator and graphic designer who has been involved in the book and magazine industry for many years. A number of her books have been shortlisted for awards and she won Best Picture Book and Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award at the 2014 New Zealand Post Book Awards with ''The Boring Book''. She lives in

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Biography

Vasanti Unka trained as a graphic designer and later studied for a master's degree in Design in 2009. She has worked in the book and magazine industry for many years as an art director and art editor and has illustrated picture books, craft books and magazine articles. She lives in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand. In 2015, Vasanti Unka appeared at the Bookaroo Children's Literature Festival in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

and

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

and in 2017, she also took part in the Bookaroo Festival in

Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

, Malaysia. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, she was part of the

New Zealand Book Council Read NZ Te Pou Muramura (formerly the New Zealand Book Council) is a not-for-profit organisation that presents a wide range of programmes to promote books and reading in New Zealand. History It was established in 1972 as a response to UNESCO's ...

Writers in Communities project, working with students of Otahuhu Primary School in south Auckland. In a 2018 article, she describes her work as "an exploration in visual language" and writes about her cultural heritage, her design influences, and on the need for diversity in children's book publishing to reflect New Zealand's multicultural society. She designed the cover and created some of the portraits for ''Go Girl: a Storybook of Epic NZ'' (Puffin, 2018) by

Barbara Else Barbara Helen Else (born 1947), also known as Barbara Neale, is a New Zealand writer, editor, and playwright. She has written novels for adults and children, plays, short stories and articles and has edited anthologies of children's stories. S ...

. Vasanti Unka was compiler of the book ''With A Suitcase Of Saris: From India To Aotearoa: Stories Of Pioneer Indian Women,'' which relates the stories - told by their daughters and granddaughters - of some of the first Indian women to immigrate to New Zealand.

Awards and prizes

A number of Vasanti Unka's books have been shortlisted for awards or named as Storylines Notable Books. ''The Boring Book'' won Best Picture Book and Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award at the 2014

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a series of literary awards presented annually to recognise excellence in children and young adult's literature in New Zealand. The awards began in 1982 as the New Zealand Governme ...

. It was described by

, Convener of Judges, as a “thoroughly original” book that charmed and enchanted its young readers with its “subversive touches” and “warmth and fun.” It was also chosen as a White Raven Book in 2014 and an IBBY Honour Book in 2016.

Bibliography

*''Ice Cream Snow'' by Janet Slater Bottin (Scholastic, 2001) *''Love to Sing Playtime Songs'' (Learn to Sing/ Scholastic, 2007) *''Love to Sing Nursery Rhymes'' (Learn to Sing/ Scholastic, 2007) *''The Bean's Story'' by Tatiana Aslund (Scholastic, 2007) *''Hill & Hole'' by

Kyle Mewburn Kyle Mewburn (born 1963) is an Australian-New Zealand writer whose books have won many prizes and awards. She lives in Millers Flat, Central Otago, writes picture books and junior fiction and is a popular and well-known speaker at schools and li ...

(Penguin, 2010) * ''Star Boy and Friends: How to Make Cool Stuff from Socks and Gloves'' (Penguin, 2010) * ''Weird Wabbit and Friends: How to Make Cool Stuff from Felt'' (Penguin, 2010) *''The Boring Book'' (Penguin, 2013) *''Stripes! No, Spots!'' (Penguin, 2015) *''With A Suitcase Of Saris: From India To Aotearoa: Stories Of Pioneer Indian Women'' (compiled by Vasanti Unka) (My Sunroom, 2016) *''Who Stole the Rainbow?'' (Penguin Random House NZ, 2018) *''I Am the Universe'' (Penguin Random House NZ, 2020) *''My Elephant is Blue'' by Melinda Szymanik (Puffin enguin NZ 2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unka, Vasanti Living people New Zealand children's writers New Zealand women children's writers Year of birth missing (living people)