SAIL Fest is a passion project from seasoned sailors in the sea of kids’ books Sailing through stories... Sanchita Basu De Sarkar Sanchita Basu De Sarkar is the owner of the Children's Bookshop in Muswell Hill, which is the oldest children's bookshop in the country. She has served as a judge for multiple children’s book prizes including the Costa Book Award, the Branford Boase Award, and the Times/Children House Prize and the Week Junior. She is an award-winning bookseller for her creative and community-led bookselling. A rising star in the publishing world, she is a big supporter of South Asian kidlit and their creators. Chitra Soundar Chitra Soundar is an internationally published award-winning author of over 60 books for children. She also writes poetry, TV and theatre. She runs The Colourful Bookshelf which curates books for children written and illustrated by British people of colour. She is also the co-founder of Creative Connections, a collective of PoC in kids media. Sinéad Gosai Sinéad Gosai is a dynamic and creative PR Consultant with close to 20 years’ experience working in the media, not-for-profit and publishing industries. She has developed press strategies for international authors and bestsellers, created publicity campaigns for beloved children’s book creators, and managed busy press offices and teams across multiple organisations. Aneesa Marufu Aneesa Marufu leads on all things social media for Sail Fest. Aneesa lives in Manchester and was the winner of the Kimberley Chambers Kickstart Prize for underrepresented writers in 2019. Her debut novel, The Balloon Thief, is inspired by her South Asian heritage and her obsession with hot air balloons, though she is yet to fly in one! Her second novel, An Emerald Sky, was longlisted for the 2024 Diverse Book Awards. When she isn’t dreaming up stories set in the clouds, she has both feet on the ground, running after her two children or hunting for her next fantasy book to escape into.
