Before Bachendri Pal became the first Indian woman to climb Mt Everest, she was a little girl with dreams as big as the sky.

As a child, Lavanya Karthik spent all her time writing stories in her school notebooks and drawing the pictures to go with them. She is now a slightly older child, still making up stories and drawing pictures. You can find her wandering about the bylanes of Mumbai, nibbling on chocolate, chatting with street dogs and looking for her next book idea. She is the author of several books, including Neel on Wheels, A Walk with Thambi and The Lion's Feast, and is the creator of the Ninja Nani series.