Jamila Gavin

Jamila Gavin (born 9 August 1941) is a British writer who is known mainly for children's books, including several with Indian contexts.

Life

Gavin was born on 9 August 1941 in Mussoorie in the United Provinces of India, in the present-day state of Uttarakhand in the Western Himalayas. Her Indian father and English mother had met as teachers in Iran.

Gavin first visited England when she was six and settled there when she was 11. As an adult she worked in the music department of the BBC before becoming a writer. She wrote her first book, The Magic Orange Tree and Other Stories, in 1979. After her first child was born, she became aware that there were few children's books reflecting the experience of multi-racial children. She has also written books reflecting her childhood in India, particularly her Surya trilogy.

Gavin is a patron of the Shakespeare Schools Festival, a charity that allows schoolchildren across the UK to perform Shakespeare in professional theatres.

Gavin settled in Stroud, Gloucestershire before 1990 and was still living there in 2012. together with Cindy Jefferies.

Writer The Surya trilogy – The Wheel of Surya (1992), The Eye of the Horse (1994) and The Track of the Wind (1997) – is a family saga that follows two generations of Indian Sikhs and shows the impact of the British Empire and the Partition of India on their lives. All three books made Guardian Children's Fiction Prize shortlists; The Wheel of Surya was special runner-up.

Coram Boy won the 2000 Whitbread Prize as Children's Book of the Year. It is set in the 18th century, being based on the Foundling Hospital established in London by sea Captain Thomas Coram. According to a local newspaper, the story "has links to Gloucestershire." It also ran on Broadway in 2007.

Three Indian Goddesses and Three Indian Princesses are collections of short stories based around Indian legends. Nine other short stories were collected as The Magic Orange Tree and Other Stories.

Grandpa Chatterji is a series for younger children, named after its first book, which was adapted for television in 1997. Other books in the series are Grandpa Chatterji's Third Eye and Grandpa's Indian Summer. The first book made the Smarties Prize shortlist for reader ages 6–8. In the 2024 King's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to children's literature.

Publications

The Magic Orange Tree and other stories (1979) Three Indian Princesses (1987) The Singing Bowls (1989) See No Evil (2008) Grandpa Chatterji (1993) Surya trilogy The Wheel of Surya (Methuen, 1992) The Eye of the Horse (Methuen, 1994) The Track of the Wind (Mammoth, 1997) Grandpa's Indian Summer (1995) The Wormholers (1996)