About 7 years ago, I took a huge leap of faith and started a children’s publishing business for bilingual picture books. The move was largely inspired by my experiences of teaching my children the native language of their parents. Faced with the difficulties of finding great quality Bangla children’s books, I had a serendipitous light bulb moment one day wherein I decided I would take on the responsibility of bringing incredible books, representing my culture and language, into the world. Not only for my kids but for others like them too.
Fast forward to the present times–I did start the business, I did bring amazing books into the hands of children, and through it all, I learned a lot! But those are the positive things. There were also the financial constraints of running a publishing business, the non-stop grind of wearing multiple hats as a boot-strapping entrepreneur, and the constant need to juggle limited resources to keep the dream alive and well.
Hence, when I came across BAWiP’s Robin Seaman Award, my first thought was, ‘Wow, what an incredible and generous gift’. My second thought was to send in an application for the grant as various areas of my business needed funds. However, an informative ‘office hours’ session clarified that this grant was meant for professional development versus other uses.
Oddly, even though my initial desire to win the award was to invest in creating more books, I was quite excited to have an opportunity to develop and prioritize myself.
It was truly an honor to be one of the recipients of the Robin Seaman Award. With the award money, I chose to attend the IBPA University, an annual conference hosted by the Independent Book Publisher’s Association.
Although my initial goal was to attend a few business-oriented sessions (subsidiary rights, selling to libraries, etc.), it turned out that an entirely different session ended up inspiring me so much, that it moved me to tears. This was the keynote panel session on the second day of the conference called “The Legends of Black Independent Publishing”. As these legends spoke about how their love for their community drove them to create children’s books for black kids at a time when no one else cared, I was impacted in a way I could have never imagined.
It reminded me why I had started this business in the first place. And the fire, that had dimmed over the course of this difficult journey, got reignited. For that, I am truly thankful.
About the Author
Raya Rahman (she/her) believes in the transformative power of picture books to help children build their literacy skills, develop a strong sense of self, and inspire compassion and tolerance for a diverse and multicultural world. She works with authors and illustrators from many different countries and communities to bring their stories to life and connect them to a wider audience. Raya is the co-founder of a bilingual children's publishing company called Guba Books and also works for The Asia Foundation, an international NGO, on their extensive early literacy digital library called “Let’s Read.”