Karuppu Raja dearly loves his small village of Pothakudi. He takes great pride in being responsible for its only source of light, switching the circuit breaker on every night to power the streetlamps. But one evening, he discovers a bird's nest buried deep inside the box. He's faced with a terrible dilemma: to turn the switch on and destroy the nest or to leave the village in darkness until the fledgelings are born.

About the Author
Karthika Nair is a poet, playwright, fabulist and dance scenarist. Until the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata, her reworking of the foundational South Asian epic in multiple voices, won the 2015 Tata Literature Live Award for Book of the Year (India). Les Oiseaux electriques de Pothakudi - her latest children's book illustrated by Joelle Jolivet - won the 2023 Prix Felipe for "ecological children's literature", and was shortlisted for the 2023 Prix Franco-Allemand de la litterature de jeunesse. The dance performances she has scripted and co-scripted include Akram Khan's multiple-award-winning DESH and Carlos Pons Guerra's Mariposa, a queer reimagining of Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly. Joelle Jolivet is an outstanding Illustrator who works mostly in linocut. She knows how to style without losing sight of the original object, and is passionate about detail. Her books have been published internationally. She lives and works in Ivry-sur-Seine, France.


Book Information
ISBN 9781849769150
Author Karthika Nair
Format Hardback
Page Count 52
Imprint Tate Publishing
Publisher Tate Publishing