10 Jun 2026 4 min read Author Blog

A New Release in June

A few things are happening this month, including the voting for the Aurora Prix award for YA Fantasy, my latest release in collaboration with illustrator Chris Ho, and upcoming events.

How Sausage would look in real life. Photo taken at the Aurora Street Festival in Ontario, Canada.

Voting Happens This Month | The Aurora Prix

Hosted by the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association (CSFFA.CA)

If you're Canadian, it's $10 CAD to become a member. Members gain access to all of the nominated works this year, from Fantasy, Science Fiction, through to Graphic Novels and Illustrations. Voting happens from June 8th through June 18th, with the winner announced in August, 2026.

If you're already a member, check out A Lion's Head, and please vote!

YA Novels up for the Award this year by a fantastic line-up of authors.,

New Book Released in June

The Eyes of Ess-Vaha, The Pink Eye Demon (Ages 8-10)

Happenstance is a chance or random event or circumstance, whereas serendipity is an unsought, unintended, or unexpected but fortunate discovery or learning experience often happening by accident. I suppose it's happenstance that I met a dog this weekend who looks identical to how Chris Ho (@algebutter), illustrator of my latest release—The Eyes of Ess-Vaha—envisioned Ashan's dog, Sausage.

The middle-grade reader retells the true story of how my husband and I acquired pink eye. Not so serendipitous, rumours of the virus hitting my daughter's school had been spreading for weeks. I discovered the goop during my children's skating lesson and promptly went to a pharmacy to get eye drops. Then my husband caught it. That part of the story is sadly true. That a winged Yaksha (spirit) by the name of Ess-Vaha (literal eye-poison or the term used for evil eye in Sri Lanka) was visiting our house is fictional.

If you have a reader between the ages of 8-10 at home, check it out. This book will be available widely, though it may only be found on Amazon for the first couple of weeks.

If you don't have a kid in your life, you can support my work by requesting the book from your local library! All you need is ISBN 978-1-0694018-4-7, and that it's published by Ahasae Tharu Publishing

Cover for #Kidlit The Eyes of Ess-Vaha, The Pink Eye Yaksha, ISBN 978-1-0694018-4-7

Author Update

Upcoming events:

June 20, 2026 - The Bookshelf alongside the Newmarket Farmers' Market on the Riverwalk Commons, Newmarket. Hosted by the Writers' Community of York Region from 8AM to 1PM.
September 6, 2026 - Indigo Newmarket
November 8, 2026 - Indie Fusion at the Holiday Inn Toronto International Airport.

Or find me on social media...