Debut book Out Now
This is the English-language edition of a book from an award-winning author. It was on several Best-of-the-Year lists.
About Lavanya Bommareddy
Lavanya Bommareddy grew up in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, before the state became two. Her childhood was full of visits to villages in the Godavari delta, with their canals, paddy fields, and kitchens that smelled of jasmine and spice.
Today the Telugu-speaking world stretches across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and communities around the globe. When Telugu speakers meet far from home, the borders fade and the language brings them together. Lavanya loves Telugu in all its forms: the dialects that change from district to district, the food of each region, and the words grandparents use at the kitchen table.
She worries that children growing up abroad are losing this, and that too often they know Telugu culture only from the movies. So she writes picture books about the real thing. The King of the Canal, her first book, is set in a West Godavari village and inspired by the places she visited as a child.
Lavanya lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family and is working on more stories about Telugu heritage.