India, Oct. 4 -- How do you feel after winning the Neev Book Award for Baloo's Big Win: How Palwankar Baloo Broke the Caste Barrier in Cricket?

The award feels like a nod of encouragement from young readers, and makes me want to write better. It is also a welcome affirmation for me, the book's illustrator Saumya Oberoi, and my publisher. It has come at a time when I feel deeply disillusioned by the state of the world. Watching the horrors of ethnic violence unfold, especially when children are at the heart of such suffering, leaves one shaken and questioning. Knowing that children connected with our book in the way they have becomes a way of keeping hope alive.

If you could write a letter to Palwankar Baloo, what would you say?

I would...