Jasbinder Bilan
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My Debut Novel - Asha And The Spirit Bird is:

 
Winner of the 2019  Costa Children's Book Award
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Nominated for the 2020 CILIP Carnegie Medal...
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Featured in The Guardian's best books of 2019 so far...
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Winner of
The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition 2017
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Asha And The Spirit Bird is aimed at readers aged 9 years+. It's an adventure story with a magical twist set in Northern India. The story follows eleven-year old Asha, who is empowered with spiritual connections to her grandmother, as she journeys through the wild and dangerous Himalayas with her best friend Jeevan.

Can they find Asha's missing papa in the city of Zandapur and return home before creditors take everything her family ever worked for? And is the lamagaia that Asha keeps seeing really her grandmother's spirit guiding her, or is it just a mountain bird as Jeevan keeps saying?
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Praise For Asha -  Reviews...

Bilan's story is an eye-opening adventure with one-sandalled foot in atmospheric realism and a toe-hold in the mythical.' - Kitty Empire -Observer Review Sunday - 13.01.19
'Immerse yourself in a lush world  of spirit birds and mango trees, snow leopards and  majestic mountains, in a sumptuous and sizzling debut...a colourful story guaranteed to the win the hearts and minds of  MG readers.' - Lancashire Post - 05.02.19 
'An evocative debut...weaves ancient Hindu beliefs into a fast-past quest...satisfyingly classic in feel.'  - Imogen Russell-Williams - The Guardian - Books Of The Month -25.01.19
'Fantastic debut...uplifting adventure...fire and fury...Bilan creates a vivid world.' - Alex O'Connell - The Times Review Children's Book Of The Week -  02.03.19

The Author

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Jasbinder and Enzo (he's a good boy, really!)
Jasbinder Bilan is the author of Asha And The Spirit Bird and Tamarind And The Star of Ishta. She lives near Bath, in England, with her husband, two sons and an adorable little dog named Enzo.  She works as a teacher and in her free time loves writing stories for children.  
Watch the excitement build as her first novel goes to print.

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Proofs all done for Asha And The Spirit Bird

A post shared by Jasbinder Bilan (@jasbinderbilan) on Oct 21, 2018 at 9:00am PDT

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The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Award

In 2017, something very exciting happened - I entered The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Award with my story Song Of The Mountain and won!  This became my debut novel Asha And The Spirit Bird.
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Watch this Chicken House video from the day the finalists were judged and a winner announced.
More from The Times and Chicken House
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© COPYRIGHT 2018. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COVER ARTWORK BY AITCH
  • Home
  • Meet Jasbinder
    • About Me
    • Inspiration
    • Gallery
  • Asha's World
  • Tamarind's World
  • Aarti's World
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Blog