Set SAIL: the new South Asian Children’s Illustration and Literature Festival

The South Asian Illustration and Literature Festival (fondly SAIL for short) set off on its maiden voyage on Friday 6th September at The British Library in London. Co-founder author Chitra Soundar tells us how it got started and what happened on the day.

SAIL Festival is a new and exciting children’s book festival celebrating South Asian illustrators, writers and poets creating books for readers between the ages of 0-17. Sanchita Basu De Sarkar and I had been mulling over such a festival on and off for a few years and the timing now felt right. Sanchita, who owns the Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill recently won the Nibbies Book Retailer of the Year and the Children’s Bookseller of the Year, so if there was ever a time to be strategic it was now. I’d worked with PR expert Sinead Gosai previously so approached her too, and she said yes right away. We bring complementary skills to the table. I understand the author side of things – things South Asian authors care about and worry about. Sanchita understands the readers and the books out there and has wonderful connections in the publishing world.  And Sinead brought a unique skill-set we didn’t have – spreading the word and making alliances and partnerships. Personality-wise we are all very different too but good friends, we can laugh together and discuss things without getting too precious about it. This was important – we wanted the festival to be joyful and celebratory of South Asian creatives and for that we needed to approach it joyfully too. And all that was made possible with numerous cups of coffee and many late evening phone calls and zoom meetings.

South Asian kidlit is rich and nuanced and varied. We had a clear idea of what kinds of discussions we wanted to initiate and what our community would want to know more about. It was crucial to create a safe space where we could have nuanced conversations, something which is not always possible when we are not well-represented in other literary festival spaces.

Our very first event came together on Friday 6th September at a small venue in the British Library. Perminder Mann, CEO of Bonnier and President of the Publishers Association opened the festival with an inspiring and encouraging keynote address. Perminder talked about her own childhood and not feeling as though she belonged in bookshops but how she always felt very at home in her local Southall library. She questioned how our sense of identity and belonging can sometimes feel fragile, especially since the racist riots, but urged us to stay strong and to unite as a community, explaining that she truly feels publishing can be for everyone.

During the day, we managed to cover a variety of topics across children’s literature created by South Asian creatives in the UK. The Publishers panel was hosted by lecturer and writer Darren Chetty, who was joined by Children’s Book Consultant Jake Hope, The Tate’s Commissioning Editor, Cherise-Lopes Baker and Eishar Brar from Knights Of. The discussion focused on the lack of South Asian books being published, what publishers are looking for when evaluating books from South Asian creators, and what new authors can expect when entering the industry.

Then we talked about all things in the space intersecting storytelling and culture with writers A.M. Dassu, Jasbinder Bilan and Zanib Mian, chaired by Sinead. This conversation covered the research needed when writing about culture and heritage, celebrating cultural elements and touchstones like food and clothing in stories, and whether there’s sometimes a need to inflate or tone down cultural references. The conversation also looked at how we can push back to make sure our stories are truly authentic and not being written for a white gaze.

In the afternoon, I hosted the picture books and visual storytelling panel, featuring illustrator Rikin Parekh, who designed and illustrated our gorgeous SAIL Fest logo, writer Smriti Halls and author/illustrator/poet Krina Patel-Sage. Looking at the approach taken by authors/illustrators when creating a new picture book, we also tackled the misconception that writing picture books is easy and talked about battling imposter syndrome. Even though I’ve been writing picture books a long time, the panel had many valuable insights to offer.

Sanchita dug into the past to unpack historical versus contemporary writing with authors Savita Kalhan, Bali Rai and Hiba Noor Khan who talked through the books and writers they were inspired by, and how they choose to set a story in the now or in the past. Ranging from research to hard topics, the panel was insightful to all, especially to Young Adult authors. Lastly, Sanchita chaired a dedicated fantasy panel, joined by the hilarious Sarwat Chadda, Nazneen Ahmed Pathak and Zohra Nabi. The authors discussed world building and drawing from cultures and perspectives and showed us how they make stories from South Asian mythology, folklore and fantasy accessible to all readers.

The three of us have only been planning the festival for a little over 4 months and knew how everything was expected to go. But we were blown away by the emotional response of our delegates and our speakers. Many came to tell me that they had ‘found their tribe’, that they felt seen, and that they were able to relate to every speaker they had heard.

Looking back, as an author who had to build my own space and community, I feel proud we created this space for everyone. We are ambitious to expand so we can spotlight more authors, illuminate amazing books and support new and aspiring creatives and industry professionals. We want to build a community that supports one another, offers advice, and cheers and celebrates each other’s success.

To do all of the above, even in small steps, we need support from the UK publishing sector. Funding and space plus time and expertise from publishers will help expand the readership, and open up books created by South Asian authors, illustrators and poets to a wider audience. We are open to partnerships and support for outreach activities and more. So if you’d like to chat, drop us a note.

Find out more about us on our website sailfest.org.uk and click here to donate to the festival. Follow us on twitter / X @SAILFestUK and Instagram at sailfest_uk.

Chitra Soundar is an internationally published, award-winning author of over 50 books for children. She is also an oral storyteller.