Erin Steel speaks with Toronto author and illustrator Farida Zaman about her latest picture book “Meena Can’t Wait” published by Orca Book Publishers in March 2024.
This episode of the AW Live podcast can be found here.
“Meena Can’t Wait” is a colourful picture book where the title character, Meena, and her nanu (grandmother) are having a tea party with a special Bengali tea called doodh cha, and even though Meena is impatient, she learns that it’s worth the wait to make the special tea together.
Highlights from the podcast:
“I feel patience these days…patience doesn’t come that easily because everything is so ready and available for children. Without going too heavy into it, I think this whole screen time thing has also robbed them of the art of learning patience naturally.”
“It’s such a gift to have someone like your grandmother close by. Most people don’t have that. People whose parents come from a different country – grandmother or grandparents, if they still have them – are left in their country of origin. But things are changing now a little and you have more of the grandparent-type characters in your life living close to you. And they’re able to inject a culture and tradition that a child doesn’t have around her so much.”
“They learn cultural nuances from their grandmother, and they get a sense of belonging and identity that is so precious that they can, of course, pass on to generations ahead of them.”
“I wanted to put a spotlight on Bangladeshi culture because, often, Bangladeshi culture gets included in Indian culture. And it’s an independent country, with independent cultural nuances.”
“If the child is originally from Bangladesh, or his or her parent has come from Bangladesh, it gives some sense of pride and belonging to, you know, share this with their friends, to feel like they can relate to it.”
“Before I started working on this book, I decided on a colour palate. I wanted to inject a lot of gold and yellow because …whenever I think of spices I think of gold, red and orange. So I wanted to make the reader feel like they could almost see this tea cooking as they read it.”
About the Author
Farida Zaman is a multi-disciplinary artist and professional author-illustrator. Her extensive portfolio includes children’s picture books, editorial art, educational publishing, food packaging as well as licensing images on stationery, jigsaw puzzles, maps, posters, and more. Born in Bangladesh, and having called many different countries home, including the UK, the US, and Canada, Farida describes herself as a global citizen, with a natural flair for illustrating different cultures and stories related to travel, history, and diverse lived experiences.
Farida has illustrated 16 picture books and is an author-illustrator “ALIYA’S SECRET- A STORY OF RAMADAN” (Owl Books), “I WANT TO BE A GUTSY GIRL- ABC” (Second Story Press) and “MEENA CAN’T WAIT” (Orca Books) due out in Spring 2024. Farida is a passionate gardener and brings her love of flowers to her illustrations.