Born Behind Bars is my 5th novel. So when, on a recent school visit, a young reader piped up, “Why do you have a parrot character?” I really ought not to have been caught unawares. By now, nearly 15 years after my debut novel, Climbing The Stairs was released, you’d have thought I’d be anticipating […]
Tag Archives: Padma Venkatraman
October
08
On Being American: An Author’s Thoughts On The White House’s Attempt to Curb “Un-American” Conversations by Padma Venkatraman
posted by donalynm
This September, a memo and an executive order were sent by the president, ordering the heads of all executive departments and agencies to “cease and desist” from engaging in “any training” related to critical race theory or white privilege, and commanding federal agencies to stop “divisive un-American propaganda training sessions.” As I and others such […]
February
01
Traveling the World Without a Ticket: Using Global Narratives to Learn About Other Cultures Without Othering Them by PADMA VENKATRAMAN
posted by CBethM
As the world grows more “global” it becomes increasingly important to expose young people to cultures other than their own. No matter what a student’s cultural background might be, an increased awareness of other cultures ought to promote dialogue, discussion and deeper mutual understanding. The more we learn to speak and to listen in mutually respectful ways, […]
May
22
Classics, Colonization and a Call for Change by Padma Venkatraman
posted by donalynm
Last year, I gave in to horribly un-American behavior. Confident that my citizenship would not be revoked if indulged in censorship, I picked up a thick sharpie and blackened out offensive words in A Child’s Garden of Verse on my daughter’s shelf. Other “classics” just plain aren’t on her shelf. I’m confident her childhood can […]
June
22
Sailing Oceans of Story by Padma Venkatraman
posted by CBethM
Once upon a time, there lived a little girl who loved words. She traveled through the pages of books to places she’d never seen, and although none of the heroes or heroines she met looked anything like her, and even though many of those heroes or heroines were narrow-minded enough she probably wouldn’t have wanted […]
Nerdy Book Club 