03 Sep HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY TO NAMITA MEHRA and VEENA AND THE RED ROTI: A STORY OF HOPE DURING PARTITION
HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY to VEENA AND THE RED ROTI : A STORY OF HOPE DURING PARTITION, written by Namita Mehra and illustrated by Beena Mistry!
I’m thrilled to share another winning book from Namita Moolani Mehra. I met Namita in the marketing group PB Spree a few years ago and have always been impressed with her talent and her kindness. And then, lucky me, I got to meet Namita in person this past summer! Check out our silly picture! 
Namita’s newest book, VEENA AND THE RED ROTI: A STORY OF HOPE DURING PARTITION is a lovely, yet important story about a young girl whose family must leave their home during the partition of India. Although there is hardship, there is family, love, and, of course, Veena’s red roti. Mehra introduces this difficult topic in a way that children can understand, and the gorgeous illustrations by Beena Mistry add to the book’s beauty.
EL Welcome, Namita! Will you tell us a little about yourself?
NM: Hi, I’m Namita and I have been writing children’s books since 2015. I live in Singapore with my husband and two children who are 5 and 11 years old and go to the American school here.
We’ve been in Singapore for 13 years and moved here from New York City where I lived for over a decade. I moved to the US from India for grad school (I did my Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 2001).
I was born in Nigeria and lived in the UK until I was 10 years old. Singapore is my 5th country of residence! I’m truly a third-culture kid.
When I’m not writing I’m doing yoga, spending time with my family, eating, and traveling. We travel a LOT!
EL: VEENA AND THE RED ROTI is a very personal story. Can you tell us why it was so important for you to write?
NM: As a child, I would hear stories about our family’s journey from my Nana (grandpa) and granduncle. They would tell me about their life in Sindh before the Partition of India. Sindh was our home state but after the British left India (following 200 years of colonization) British India was divided into India and Pakistan. When that line was drawn to literally and physically divide the country into two, my family’s home state of Sindh fell into Pakistan. At first, no one thought much of it –it felt mostly political– but later when news of religious violence in other states like Punjab and Bengal started making its way to Sindh, it felt unsafe to stay. My grandparents were forced to leave their home and flee across the border in the middle of the night – hiding in a freight train. They arrived in India as refugees—with absolutely nothing other than the clothes on their back, and my Nani (grandma) had her gold bangles.
It was difficult for my grandparents to talk about Partition and losing their home. My Nana would always get emotional and upset if I asked too many questions. My sister and I asked lots of questions- we were so curious about where we came from. My Nana would tell us stories about mango orchards and picnics in Sindh where they would sit by the river and eat dried deer meat! He would talk about huge mansions (Havelis) that they lived in and trips to the beach in Karachi. It all sounded so incredible.
And then to lose it all and start over from scratch—what a story! What a journey! My Nana was well educated and was fortunate to be able to re-settle in India. He made his way from the refugee camp to Delhi and eventually ended up working for the government of India.
When I started writing children’s stories in 2015, my granduncle told me I must write our family’s story. He passed away in 2019 and this story is dedicated to him and his wife—my grandaunt who inspired some of the details in my story.
EL: That’s lovely.
NM: I have to tell you the backstory to the Red Roti part of the story. I mostly try to avoid gluten, and I love these gluten-free biscuits from India called ‘Ragi’ biscuits. Ragi is a gluten-free grain known as red millet in English. One day, I was telling my granduncle and grandaunt about my love for ragi biscuits (or cookies as you call them in America) and my grandaunt loudly expressed her disgust for red millet. I asked her why she disliked it so much and she told me that when they arrived at the refugee camps in India, the roti at their camp was made with this grain and she had never eaten anything so awful in her life. That’s where the Red Roti idea came from!
EL: It looks like you and your daughter enjoy making it! What a beautiful picture! Please talk about your road to publication with this book.
NM: This was a tough story to write as it’s so personal. I started drafting it after my grandpa passed away which was hard too. This might sound a bit bizarre, but on the day he died, I was so distraught and sobbing in the shower, but while I was crying the words/title popped into my head THE RED ROTI and so it kind of felt like a gift from the universe—an elusive creative and almost paranormal experience (Elizabeth Gilbert talks about this in a 2009 Ted Talk titled Your Elusive Genius where the American Poet Ruth Stine describes this experience.)
There was no turning back from that moment. I knew I had to write this book. I have a wonderful critique group here in Singapore and we meet every Wednesday in person. I started bringing in some terrible drafts but over many months, the story finally took shape. It was important for me to tell my family’s story in a way that would resonate with our young picture book audience. It’s not an easy topic and I had to get it right.
My agent submitted it exclusively to Kids Can Press, and the rest is history.
EL: You certainly got that story right! Do you have anything else in the pipeline that you can talk about?
NM: I have two other books coming out in 2025. THE GREATEST RIVER is a quiet lyrical story about the holy river Ganges published by HarperCollins and illustrated by the incredible Khoa Le. That one comes out in March 2025. And in the fall, I have a really fun story for younger readers called CHALO, LET’S GO about a rickshaw ride in my hometown. Illustrated by Navya Raju and published by Candlewick.
EL: Thank you so much for visiting, Namita. Readers, please check out these links to learn more about Namita and where you can get her books.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/veena-and-the-red-roti-namita-moolani-mehra/1144553734
And now a…
Namita is happy to send a copy of VEENA’S RED ROTI to one lucky winner! As always, comment on this post and let me know if you have shared it and/or if you are a subscriber for an extra chance to win.
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On a personal note, I’d love you to check out some of my books here. They are also available wherever books are sold. THANK YOU!
DEBBIE’S SONG: THE DEBBIE FRIEDMAN STORY
https://bookshop.org/p/books/debbie-s-song-ellen-leventhal/18680277?ean=9781728443027
A FLOOD OF KINDNESS
https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-flood-of-kindness-ellen-leventhal/15150623?ean=9781546034582
danielle hammelef
Posted at 13:16h, 03 SeptemberThank you for sharing the behind the scenes look at this book–now that I know the story, reading this book is going to be an emotional experience for me too. I shared on tumblr and can’t wait to read it.
Deena Viviani
Posted at 21:06h, 03 SeptemberI love a good story of historical events told through picture books. It really takes a lot of skill to tell these tales in a way that is true to the horrors of what happened while also being appropriate for young readers. Thank you for writing this.
Susan Johnston Taylor
Posted at 21:41h, 03 SeptemberCongrats, Namita and team!