Podcast – Rukhsana Khan

How do you tell a story about a specific cultural paradigm and make it universally accessible? Award-winning author Rukhsana Khan shows us how to do just that as she walks us through her Golden Kite award-winning book Big Red Lollipop. Don’t miss the behind-the-scenes stories of this beloved picture book as Rukhsana explains her inspiration and how her story doesn’t just show the dynamics of an immigrant family, but also reveals how the universal struggle of sibling rivalry is common to all cultures.

Award-winning author Rukhsana Khan was born in Lahore, Pakistan and immigrated to Canada as a toddler. She turned to books to escape her childhood bullies, but never imagined she could write herself; writers were white people. She finally wrote her first book when she couldn’t find a job as a bio-chem technician. Thirteen books later, Rukhsana has made a name for herself as an author, presenter, and storyteller. Her picture book Big Red Lollipop was named one of the 100 Greatest Children’s Books in the Last 100 Years by the New York Public Library.

In this episode, Rukhsana Khan explains what a cultural paradigm is, why every picture book has one, and how you can use that paradigm to engage your reader with your culture.

Listen here:

To learn more on how to translate your unique experiences and viewpoint into one that resonates for all readers, check out Rukhsana’s full Picture Book Summit session “Cultural Connections: From the Specific to the Universal” on our Teachable site HERE.