Today we’d like to introduce you to Tina Athaide.
Hi Tina, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Born in Uganda and growing up in London and Canada, my journey to writing is best described as traveling through a very complicated maze rather than walking a straight line, but I wouldn’t trade any of the experiences, as they brought me where I am today.
My call to writing developed in the 1990s from my work as a teacher and the realization that there were few books that dealt with cultures outside of the white European experience. Believing that books can present different experiences to children in an organic, natural way, I started publishing early literacy readers for the education market, such as “Pran’s Week of Adventures,” with Bebop Books (a subsidiary of Lee and Low), featuring children of different ethnicities.
The inspiration for my debut middle-grade novel, “Orange For The Sunsets (HarperCollins/Tegen 2019), came 14 years before the book’s publication and is based on the experiences of family and friends during the expulsion of Asian Indians from Uganda in 1972. I was thrilled to bits and utterly shocked when the book was named a A Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Books of 2019 Selection *, A Canadian Children’s Book Center Best Books for Kids & Teens Pick, and then won the Canadian Geoffrey Bilson Award for Best Historical Fiction for Young Readers.
My debut picture book, Meena’s Mindful Moment, (Page Street Press 2021) was a fun story about calming our “hurly-burly hullabaloos” while taking time to appreciate the world around us. This story was set in Goa, India, and based on my own experiences when, as a young girl, I visited Goa with my family.
What delights me more than anything is visiting student around the world to talk about my stories and writing journey. With Orange for the Sunsets, young readers have excitedly told me how their family went through the same thing or something similar. It is seeing themselves or something about their family in the books that makes them stand taller or share their opinions. It’s that idea that “if I can find something about myself in the book(s) I am reading, then I must matter. Students in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania have shared how excited they were to read a book set in Africa.
With Meena’s Mindful Moments, I love working with students to channel their creativity and design their Hurly-burly Hullabaloos while sharing mindful moments and practices.
Honestly, it is a joy and privilege to have written these two book and still get shocked when I wander into a bookshop and happen upon one of my books sitting on a shelf. To hear that readers, young and old, connect to the characters relate to the story, or learn something completely new is more than I ever could have imagined when I first set out on this path.
I am excited to share that I have another MG book coming out in July 2024. Wings To Soar (Charlesbridge Moves 2024) This story is a novel-in-verse about a girl’s resiliency when faced with hatred towards refugees. It is set in England in the early 1970s when anti-immigration feelings were burning hot in the country. Then in 2025, I have another picture book releasing, Sunshine in the Monsoon (HarperCollins). This is a lovely story about the bond between a grandmother and granddaughter and their love of the monsoons.
Whatever stories I write, I firmly believe that books have the power to open readers to new awareness and appreciation of differences in culture and experience.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My path from story inspiration to publication has been an uphill climb…think Mt. Everest!
Orange For the Sunsets was rejected 30 times before being accepted for publication. During that time, it went through 12 revisions. However, even though the publishing world was like stumbling and falling through the hole in “Alice in Wonderland,” running into one obstacle after another, I got little gifts along the way that kept me going.
World of encouragement.
A handwritten rejection with a positive note.
A recommendation.
I tell students this story and ask them to consider what would have happened if I decided to toss it all in after the 30th rejection and not keep re-imagining and revising the story.
Honestly, the entire publishing experience has been a testament to the idea of perseverance and patience, and I am grateful for all the people that have played a part in my journey. Even today, I hit roadblocks and stumble, but I am determined not to give up!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I love writing stories that take readers to another time or another place. Stories that entertain while sharing different cultures and experiences.
I am excited to share that I have another MG book coming out in July 2024. Wings To Soar (Charlesbridge Moves 2024) This story is a novel-in-verse about a girl’s resiliency when faced with hatred towards refugees. It is set in England in the early 1970s when anti-immigration feelings were burning hot in the country. Then, in 2025, I have another picture book releasing, Sunshine in the Monsoon (HarperCollins). This is a lovely story about the bond between a grandmother and granddaughter and their love of the monsoons.
Whatever stories I write, I firmly believe that books have the power to open readers to new awareness and appreciation of differences in culture and experience.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Perseverance and Patience.
I have a vision, and I have goals, but sticking to them, no matter what obstacles I face, it key. I have also learned to be patient.
Let my stories come to me.
Listen to my characters.
And most importantly, once the book has been sent to my agent or is out on submission to editors, I have to “Let Go.”
That is probably the hardest. Having the patience to know that my story will find the right editor and publishing house. Thank goodness for cake, samosas, and hot buttered naan, all of which I consume a lot of during those “waiting months”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tinaathaide.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinaplansandplots/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004255516156
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-athaide-6889b326/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tathaide
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/tina_athaide
