The Boy and The Bindi book cover

The Boy and The Bindi

In this beautiful children's picture book by Vivek Shraya, author of the acclaimed God Loves Hair, a five-year-old boy becomes fascinated with his mother's bindi, the red dot commonly worn by South Asian women to indicate the point at which creation begins, and wishes to have one of his own. Rather than chastise her son, she agrees to it, and teaches him about its cultural significance, allowing the boy to discover the magic of the bindi, which in turn gives him permission to be more fully himself.

Beautifully illustrated with hand paintings by Rajni Perera, The Boy & the Bindi is a joyful celebration of gender and cultural difference.

The Boy and The Bindi. Text © 2016 Vivek Shraya Illustrations © 2016 Rajni Perera. Reproduced by permission of Arsenal Pulp Press, Vancouver.

Note: This title is pending permission from author and publisher.

Book Creators

Vivek Shraya

Vivek Shraya portrait

Vivek Shraya is a Toronto-based artist whose body of work includes several albums, films, and books including God Loves Hair, She of the Mountains and even this page is white. Vivek is a three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, a 2015 Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award finalist, and a 2015 recipient of the Wrters' Trust of Canada's Dayne Ogilvie Prize Honour of Distinction.

Ranji Perera

Ranji Perera portrait

Ranji Perera is an artist living and working in Toronto. She uses an immigrant perspective to make work about the coloured female body and its place in science fiction/fantasy, and popular culture.