Acclaimed novelist Prajwal Parajuly is stepping into children’s literature with his first picture book, Karma and Lola, a heartwarming story set in Sikkim that explores the bond between a young girl and her beloved dog.
HarperCollins Publishers India on Thursday announced the acquisition of the book, which will feature illustrations by Kathmandu-based artist and graphic designer Ubahang Nembang.
Best known for The Gurkha’s Daughter: Stories and Land Where I Flee, Parajuly has primarily written literary fiction. Karma and Lola marks a significant departure for the author, both in terms of genre and readership.
Interestingly, the children’s book emerged while Parajuly was taking a break from a historical novel centred on Sikkim’s merger with India. After shelving that project, he began experimenting with different forms of writing, including limericks, sonnets and haikus. Encouragement from friends eventually prompted him to try writing for children.
The result is a picture book rooted in the verdant landscape of Gangtok, Sikkim, a setting that remains relatively underrepresented in mainstream Indian children’s literature.
Karma and Lola follows a young girl, Karma, who lives with her parents and her dog Lola. When Lola suddenly goes missing one evening, Karma sets out to find her, leading to a series of adventures. Through the search, the story explores friendship, companionship and the emotional connection children often develop with animals.
“I am pumped about Karma and Lola being published by HarperCollins India,” Parajuly, who is represented by A Suitable Agency, said. “I have watched with interest the children’s books HCI has published over the years and couldn’t have asked for a better home for the book.”
For illustrator Ubahang Nembang, working on the book was an opportunity to visually capture both the relationship between its central characters and the world they inhabit.
“Illustrating Karma and Lola felt like walking side by side with them. Their journey filled with warm, tender moments captures the heart of true friendship,” Nembang said.
Tina Narang, Executive Publisher, HarperCollins Children’s Books, said the book takes readers to a “largely unexplored part of the country” through an evocative and gentle story.
“Prajwal Parajuly has traversed the difficult bridge between adult and children’s writing in the finest way possible. We are so delighted to publish his debut children’s book at HarperCollins and with Ubahang’s wonderful illustrations this is going to be a very special book,” Narang said.
Parajuly’s earlier works have been nominated for several international literary honours, including the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Mogford Prize, France’s Emile Guimet Prize and First Novel Prize, and The Story Prize in the US. His novel also won the Prix Littéraire Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie Franco-Indienne in 2023. He currently directs the creative writing programme at Krea University and writes a weekly column for The Hindu.
Nembang, meanwhile, holds a BFA from Kathmandu University and an MA in Illustration from Falmouth University in the UK. His debut picture book, The Journey/Yatra, published in 2016, follows the journey of a water buffalo through the forests of western Nepal.
With Karma and Lola, Parajuly now brings his literary voice to younger readers, combining a story of companionship with the landscape and cultural setting of Sikkim.
