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 ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

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 ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

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

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

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 bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

and

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

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 Ri ...

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

, 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. It was established in 1972 and its programmes have included ...

Writers in Communities project, working with students of

Ōtāhuhu Ōtāhuhu is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand – to the southeast of the CBD, on a narrow isthmus between an arm of the Manukau Harbour to the west and the Tāmaki River estuary to the east. The Auckland isthmus is the narrowest connect ...

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. 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's and young adult's literature in New Zealand. The awards were founded in 1982, and have had severa ...

. It was described by Barbara Else, 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 l ...

(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 New Zealand children's book illustrators New Zealand illustrators New Zealand women children's book illustrators Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century New Zealand illustrators