Deepa Agarwal is an author, poet and translator with over 60 books published for children and adults. She is a regular contributor to magazines and journals in India and abroad, and has curated several anthologies. Many of her stories have been included in textbooks as well. Her work has been translated into seventeen Indian and several foreign languages. Deepa has received several awards including the N.C.E.R.T. National Award for Children’s Literature in 1993 for her picture book Ashok’s New Friends. Her historical fiction Caravan to Tibet was on the IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Honour List 2008; non-fiction Journey to the Forbidden City was on the Parag Honour List 2020 and a finalist for the Neev Book Award 2021 in the Junior Readers section as well as the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar; Kashmir! Kashmir! was on the Parag Honour List and a finalist for the Publishing Next Award; and Sacked, Folktales You can Carry Around was shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi award. The Arthashastra for Children is her latest book. Deepa’s writings often explore themes of gender equality, social justice and environmental preservation. She is active in reading promotion and was awarded a senior fellowship from the Ministry of Culture to research Indian children’s literature. She has presented many papers at seminars and conferences in India and abroad and participated in several literary festivals including the prestigious Jaipur Literature Festival, the Sahitya Akademi Festival of Letters and the Bangalore Literature Festival.