A Unique Book About the Indian festival of Diwali
Little Lantern & the Dark and Moonless Night
A hopeful Writer. An inspired Potter. A scared Little Lantern.
And a festival of light on a dark and moonless night… in America!
Little Lantern and the Dark and Moonless Night is a book about finding your light and showing the way. The story follows a Little Lantern—made of earth, water, and fire—who doesn’t know how she can help the Writer celebrate Diwali, a grand and centuries old tradition from India. But with the Potter’s inspired designs, she learns that a tiny light has the power to bring color to the whole world.
With encouragement from my daughter, I decided to tell the story of Diwali focussing on what I’ve always loved about it. I started with my memories of creating Rangolis during my childhood in India, and placing the simple clay lamp in the middle of it. Then, I began to discover inspiration everywhere.
My potter friend Jeff’s beautiful lanterns which made me think about how I celebrate it differently now that I live in the US.
Folios of Persian calligraphy I studied in a museum and
A conversation I had with a woman on an airplane too.
I wove together these bits and pieces to create a storybook that celebrates the light we have in all of us. And learned that my favorite thing is how the light showed me colors, and colors brought me joy.
Photo, left: I started making the books combining various papers in my collection and posting the photos on Facebook. People started claiming books which used colors they liked! I had 20 lanterns so was making 20 books then. Today, I have sold so many and at workshops we explore ways to make own paper lanterns as well.
Photo: A ceramic lantern by my friend potter Jeff Rogers. In a dark room the tealight inside casts beautiful shadows on the book which is itself a Rangoli made from paper.
In 2015, in an amazing collaboration with the Washington DC-based family engagement organization Turning the Page (TTP), 100 families will get a copy of my book Little Lantern and the Dark & Moonless Night. Not only that, when Ellie Canter of TTP was approached by Imagination Stage, a children’s theater and arts education program based in Bethesda, MD, to apply for a grant from the D.C. Commission for the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH), she immediately thought of my book and upcoming visits to TTP’s partner schools.
Read the full story on my blog for my art studio, Studio PAUSE, here!
At a 2018 workshop I was conducting at the Freer & Sackler Galleries of Art in Washington DC, Ruben Villalta told me that it was unfortunate that this book was only available in English and the story would be unavailable to Spanish readers like him. So I invited him to translate it into Spanish if he felt like it. And he did!
“My granddaughter loves art and I loved pottery when I was in college. She will love this storybook.” ~ Anne, grandma, Orlando, FL
“I can see how my pre-school class will love picking colors for the pages of their books. And our Jewish school will love this story of light.” ~ Laura, teacher, Miami, FL
“I like how the Little Lantern—this object—is thinking of her journey and purpose just like we humans might think about ours.” ~ Rana, poet, Springfield, VA
“I like that this is a story for everyone and inspired by everyone.”~ Kori, educator, Washington DC
You can BUY this by visiting our shop. You can pick an English copy or one in Spanish. Thanks!