From Arunachal to California: How One Family Turned Books Into a Legacy

Itanagar: Prachi Sharma grew up in Lumla, Arunachal Pradesh. Her parents, Satya Prakash and Manju Sharma, worked as teachers in the remote state. Their home revolved around books. They were more than objects. "They were how our family understood the world and how we passed ourselves on," Sharma says.

Hard work in local schools pushed Sharma to become a Class 10 state topper. That academic drive stuck. The family kept writing. Manju Sharma penned The Lost Recipes to save ancestral food traditions. Prachi wrote Manju and a children's book about her dog, Oreo. Her sister, Richa, authored Finding Home Again.

The writing bug hit the next generation hard. Prachi’s son published two picture books at six years old. Her nephew wrote a superhero tale at eight. In total, three generations have produced seven books.

Prachi now lives in California. She founded The Sapling Press to help kids write and publish their own stories. She sees this as a direct link to her childhood. She carries the lessons from those classrooms across the globe. Arunachal remains the root of their work.