Anu Seghal is a children's author and the founder of the Culture Tree, a cultural literacy and language education company that celebrates South Asian culture. Priya Krishna is a food reporter and video host for the New York Times and the best-selling author of multiple cookbooks, including Indian-Ish and Cooking at Home. Her latest book is Priya's Kitchen Adventures. The Culture Tree will be hosting their first annual AAPI Children's Literary Festival in collaboration with the Asia Society. This is a unique gathering place for writers, illustrators, publishers, and fans of AAPI literary works. It features readings, meet-and-greet sessions with authors like Priya, illustrators, panel discussions, and writing workshops, engaging the youth with the full diversity of South Asian culture. In this episode, Anu and Priya delve deep into how the Culture Tree and the Lit Fest immerses children in South Asian culture, and how to overcome the challenges of engaging high schoolers. We talk about the importance of food in Indian culture and how it can be used as an inspiration for children. And they share their journeys growing up brown in America, learning to celebrate their cultural heritage, and how they teach their children to do the same thing.  The AAPI Children’s Literary Festival will be in person Saturday, May 11th from 1 to 5 p.m. at 725 Park Avenue, New York City.  What we talked about:Growing the Culture Tree: Anu breaks down the Culture Tree’s mission of celebration and education + the importance Anu places on the languages of South Asia + how South Asian culture is one of the most diverse in the world and the need to celebrate it all + the heartwarming support the Culture Tree receives from the wider community (3:28)Anu’s Journey: Growing up in an inter-religious, multilingual family and her passion for teaching South Asian languages + how having children inspired her to challenge South Asian stereotypes + her pride in seeing her kids haggling in a Delhi bazaar (7:33)Lit Fest: Putting Kids First: The original inspiration for the Lit Fest + TikTok and teaching middle schoolers the lost art of recipe reading + having children do their own writing and illustrating + how children run their panel discussion in the Festival (18:12)Priya's Kitchen Adventures: How Priya’s created an interactive cookbook that normalizes South Asian cooking from a young age + how she came to be involved in the Lit Fest + how she refused to bring Indian food to school so she could fit in + how she first promoted Indian cooking + celebrating the support she has received from Madhur Jaffrey and other South Asian cooking experts (23:15)Priya’s Further Adventures: Priya describes how her local Mutai shop was her first New York Times project + Her pride in her YouTube videos highlighting the unseen labor in the food industry + her latest project exploring identity beyond the South Asian American paradigm + her parents suddenly becoming famous (30:51)Final Goals: Anu and Priya express their hopes to promote the Lit Fest annually for children as young as five as well as middle schoolers + their wish for parents to join in the fun (35:17)Rapid Fire Round: (37:43)Anu’s Bucket List: (40:39)Priya’s Bucket List: (40:46)Connect with Anu:LinkedinThe Culture TreeInstagram Connect with Priya:WebsiteInstagramLinkedinTwitterYouTubeLet’s talk Connect:Instagram This podcast is produced by Ginni Media.