One day you’re young with high hopes for the future – you’re going to change the world, you’re sure of it. Then, over time, that spark and passion start to dwindle; perhaps you won’t change the world, after all. A young Canberra author, Lochana Radaliyagoda, wants to ensure that no children lose their spark with her picture book, Feel the Flame.

“I thought that a book was the best sort of media for children to become influenced by throughout their entire lives, I still read children’s books now and then, I love the illustrations. That’s why I wrote it.”

Released on 1 November by Little Steps Publishing, Feel the Flame tells the story of Princess Lana. The book lover realises there is something wrong with the way media portrays women in her kingdom. Believing that not all women need a man or should be pigeonholed, Lana sets out on a journey to learn how other places portray their women. Learning about influential women like Julia Gillard, Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg and Ruth Bader Ginsburg further ignites the flame within the princess. 

“That passion for making a difference grew as well. The rest of the story is her using what she has learnt and using that flame within her to bring together a group of young people who fight for a better future,” says Lochana.

At 17 years old, the young author has already been teaching traditional Sri Lankan dance at her mother’s dance studio for the past eight years. Over this time, she has noticed children aged three or four coming in with big dreams of becoming astronauts, ninjas and almost anything you could image.

By the time they got to 13 or so, that fire had all but been extinguished; Lochana says their dreams and goals seemed to be drained out of them.

“I didn’t like seeing their passions and their drive sort of fade away because you tend to develop anxious thoughts as you grow and the effect of that is incredible. I wanted to lessen that; the story is about how a young person holds that fire and that passion close to their heart and continues to make that dream a reality.”

Inspired by the woman she has always looked up to, her mother, Lochana says that who her mother is to her, is what she wants to be for others. Completely supportive of her journey, Lochana’s parents listened to her vision and encouraged her to research how to turn it into reality.  

“My parents were like, ‘If that’s something you want to do, you can figure out how to do it, you can contact people and figure all of that out. Once you are solid on the ideas, have everything set out, and we’re happy to support you. That kind of support from my own family is super necessary,” she says.

In 2020, Lochana was 14 and in year nine at school when she was awarded the Audrey Fagan Young Women’s Enrichment Grant, receiving $2,000 to make her dream of writing a book to inspire children come true.

“I felt like that was a great thing that people of all ages read and absorb. Once I received the grant, I had to contact a lot of different people because I had no idea what I was doing.”

Eventually she contacted local author Samantha Tidy who talked her through the process and introduced her to her illustrator, Juliette Dudley. After working together to come up with a look for the book, Lochana contacted Little Steps Publishing who were happy to take on the book.

“They were really happy to have a young person with these big ideas in their system. Once they accepted, they took the books off our hands and went through the editing and graphic design process,” says Lochana.

Coming from a Sri Lankan background, Lochana says the kingdom in her book isn’t necessarily Sri Lanka, more inspired by the juxtaposition of the cultures she experienced growing up. This was most evident through the media her family consumed, the Australian or American and Sri Lankan were often at opposite ends when it came to their female portrayals.

“It being there like that really struck a chord, I was like ‘Oh, this is not okay, something needs to be changed’. For me, like it was for her (Lana), Sri Lankan TV was that first book she read, it was like something is a little bit wrong here.”

When she was a small child, Lochana didn’t necessarily have an out-of-the-box career path in mind, she was too busy proving she could do everything her brother and male cousins could do. Independent, determined and passionate, she says she has always been the one to point out gender bias.

“From a young age, I had this passion to change the mindsets of people around me and show them we are unlimited in what we can do and what we can achieve,” she says.

Written for children aged five to eight, the author believes her book is something everyone can enjoy, and included recommendations for further reading material about the women featured. Although the book focuses on a young girl bringing change for the women in her kingdom, Lochana says the book is for everyone.

“Young people before they have to experience all these different things and they become influenced by what the world has; reading something like this can be a little bit grounding, it can be a place to start.”

Unsure if another book is on her horizon, Lochana isn’t sure what she will choose to do, and with another year of high school to go, she has plenty of options available. Wherever she ends up, she knows she wants to bring positive change to the world and has recently founded her own not-for-profit organisation, Kids2Care.

“It’s bettering the mental and physical health of children in developing countries; I think it is going off of the ideas from this. It’s about the kids in communities and making sure they have all those skills to continue through their lives,” says Lochana.

Get your copy of Feel the Flame by Lochana Radaliyagoda at lochanaradaliyagoda.com

Canberra Daily is keen to hear from you about a story idea in the Canberra and surrounding region. Click here to submit a news tip.