Vasanti Unka

Vasanti Unka is a New Zealand writer, illustrator and designer. Vasanti was awarded the Arts Foundation (Mallinson Rendel) Laureate Award for Illustration in 2021. A number of her books for children have been shortlisted for awards and she won Best Picture Book and Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award at the 2014 New Zealand Post Book Awards with The Boring Book. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Biography Vasanti Unka originally trained as a graphic designer and holds master's degrees in Design and in Creative Writing. and has illustrated picture books, craft books and magazine articles. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

In 2015, Vasanti Unka appeared at the Bookaroo Children's Literature Festival in New Delhi, and in 2017, she also took part in the Bookaroo Festival in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, she was part of the New Zealand Book Council Writers in Communities project, working with students of Ōtāhuhu Primary School in south Auckland.

In a 2018 article, she describes her work as "an exploration in visual language" and writes about her cultural heritage, her design influences, and on the need for diversity in children's book publishing to reflect New Zealand's multicultural society. She designed the cover and created some of the portraits for Go Girl: a Storybook of Epic NZ (Puffin, 2018) by Barbara Else.

Vasanti Unka was compiler of the book With A Suitcase Of Saris: From India To Aotearoa: Stories Of Pioneer Indian Women, which relates the stories - told by their daughters and granddaughters - of some of the first Indian women to immigrate to New Zealand.

Awards and prizes A number of Vasanti Unka's books have been shortlisted for awards or named as Storylines Notable Books.

The Boring Book won Best Picture Book and Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award at the 2014 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards. It was described by Barbara Else, Convener of Judges, as a “thoroughly original” book that charmed and enchanted its young readers with its “subversive touches” and “warmth and fun.” It was also chosen as a White Raven Book in 2014 and an IBBY Honour Book in 2016. I Am the Universe (Penguin Random House NZ, 2020) My Elephant is Blue by Melinda Szymanik (Puffin [Penguin NZ], 2021) Lucy and the Dark by Melinda Szymanik (Puffin [Penguin NZ], 2023) Pukapuka (Beatnik Press, 2025)