All About Diwali arrives!

Swapna HaddowScrapbook

Happy Publication Day to All About Diwali by me and Aditi Kakade Beaufrand!

This book is stunning!

Illustrated throughtout by the immensely talented Aditi, the book is packed full of facts, recipes and activities to get you in the mood for Diwali later this year.

In conversation with Zac McCallum

Swapna HaddowThe Bad Panda Club

Sheena and I kicked off Wednesday morning with a Bad Panda interview with Zac McCallum, school librarian and blogger at My Best Friends are Books. This week marks the release of Bad Panda in New Zealand and Australia so, despite lockdown, it didn’t seem right not to mark the occasion.

We chatted about how the book came to be, our favourite illustrations, how to create names for pandas that look like a sack of potatoes and Sheena talked us through how to draw our very own Lins.

Thank you so much to everyone who came along and made my morning so much fun and thank you to Zac for hosting a brilliant event.

It’s a double publication day!

Swapna HaddowBallet Class in Session, Scrapbook

Today, not one but TWO of my books are out in the world! First up is my debut historical middle-grade fiction, Torn Apart: The Partition of India, 1947, where two boys are forced into an impossible situation against the backdrop of the partition of India in 1947.

Next up is the fifth book is the gorgeous Ballet Bunnies series, illustrated by Binny Talib, Ballet Bunnies: The Big Audition. Millie and the bunnies are back and Millie has a huge audition for her favourite TV series.

Happy reading, everyone!

Bad Panda visits GLL Libraries

Swapna HaddowThe Bad Panda Club

Libraries were where I first got hooked on books and anyone who knows me knows how passionately I advocate for libraries so I was thrilled to be asked to be part of the ‘Meet the Author’ series with the GLL National Libraries Digital Programme where I could introduce Bad Panda to viewers on Facebook.