About Shweta Aggarwal

Indian by origin and having grown up in Japan, I now live in England with my family. My upbringing has been that of a global citizen. And after having children, I am keen for my children to be global citizens while also to be proud of their own culture and heritage.

As a mother of two young children and a British Indian, I'm forever exploring ways to impart cultural knowledge to them. Also, adding variety to their bookshelf is something I actively work on.

My mission is for children not just to read well, but to be well read. Realising that this can be easily achieved if children can relate to the characters in a book, Dev and Ollie were created - Dev, a cheeky, curious and sometimes clumsy boy and Ollie his magical bedtime cuddly owl.

What sparked their conception was an Indian cultural festival experience in England. Festivals evoke the best of any culture! Colour, noise, excitement, family, laughter - all are perfect ingredients for children's stories with a universal appeal.

During my time in India from 1995 to 1999 for my undergraduate degree in computer science, I traveled extensively within India. That's when I experienced an array of amazing festivals.

Kite Crazy is about one such experience. One of my most cherished memories is the annual kite festival in Gujarat, India...flying kites on the rooftop with cousins from dawn till dusk. Food, drinks, piles of kites, everything would be planned for. We'd fight to have a go (because we had fewer kites remaining than the number of cousins!). Then seconds later, we'd be ganging up and competing against others on neighbouring roof terraces.

Many more Dev and Ollie books will be released soon, not just about festivals in India, but unique festivals around the world that haven't been discovered on an international level...festivals that children will love to read about! In fact, some of these festivals are now included in my bucket (Tomatina Festival in Spain and Snow & Ice Festival in China)!