I had the opportunity to work closely with Sahana Ahmed on my book, Kuhu Learns to Deal With Life, that was published by Bare Bones Publishing in October 2025. It was a journey of many learnings and encountering a rare kind of publisher who doesn’t treat a book like a project to tick off a list. To Sahana, a book is art and she makes sure to treat your piece of heart with care. 

From day one, she was in it with me, thinking through every bit—the writing, the typesetting, the font. Because I had entrusted her completely with the story, she worked tirelessly behind the scenes, along with the illustrator, which shows in the icons and detailing of the illustrations that were completely her brainchild, which also shows how closely she’d read the manuscript. Nothing in the book is random, down to a comma. And none of this without me in the loop. I was asked/suggested. We didn’t always have the same creative vision but she was open to dialogue, bringing in solutions that best served the story. 

The overall effect of her work was a cohesive, thoughtful, and alive book. Sahana made sure my character didn’t stay just on the page but she breathed life into Kuhu with the brilliant cover picture that has attracted readers. 

She’s also full of unique ideas for promos, from ‘stories that shaped me’ videos to childhood frames of her authors and beautiful pictures of the books. The quality of her work has been par excellence, and I have it from the readers who have praised the amalgamation of the story, design, font size, illustrations, etc. 

I’d like to add that Sahana delivered exactly as promised. Working with her, I realized she isn’t just any publisher. Her involvement, vision across Bare Bones’ catalogue, shows a creator adding value to children’s literature. Making a book with her wasn’t business but like making something that matters, which was my vision, too, when I started out with Kuhu’s story.