Dayal Kaur Khalsa, (1943-1989)

"When I was a young teenager and wanted to be a writer and couldn't wait to leave home and go on the road in search of adventure to write about, my mother said, 'there are stories in your own backyard.' ‘Ha!', I said. So I left home, went on the road, had lots of adventures, and eventually, 25 years later, the first book I published took place in the backyard of my childhood. Ha!"

Dayal Kaur Khalsa, the author and illustrator of nine vibrant and original books for children, was a self-taught writer and artist who based most of her books on childhood experiences. Tales of a Gambling Grandma (1986) was inspired by memories of Khalsa's own wonderfully eccentric grandmother, while My Family Vacation (1988) fondly recalls a Florida holiday in her youth. Khalsa got her start as an illustrator when the publisher of Tundra books saw her drawings and asked her to illustrate a series of wordless board books for babies. Painted in gouache, her illustrations are rich in detail, jewel-bright colour, and strong shapes. The warm and nostalgic pictures are often enlivened by Khalsa's capricious sense of humour. Look for the playful parody of Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" in I Want a Dog (1987), or the toy horse set against the western landscape of Cowboy Dreams (1990). Born in the United States, Dayal Kaur Khalsa spent the last 20 years of her life in Canada. Her last three years were devoted to her picture-book art. Six of her books were published in that time; two more were published posthumously. As a gift to her adopted country, Khalsa bequeathed the original paintings, illustrations, drawings, research notes, manuscripts, and all material related to the publication of her children's books to the National Library of Canada.

Selected Bibliography

Cowboy Dreams. Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa. Montreal: Tundra Books, 1990.
26 p.: col. ill.; 22 x 27 cm.
ISBN 088776245X

Duncan Really Likes Me: Stories about Cats and Dogs. Toronto: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.
56 p.: col. ill.; 22 x 28 cm. (Waves)
Contents: Duncan and Dolores, written and illustrated by Barbara Samuels - Have you Seen Josephine? written and illustrated by Stéphane Poulin - I Want a Dog, written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa.
ISBN 0395578000

How Pizza Came To Our Town. Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa. Montreal: Tundra Books, c1989.
23 p.: col. ill.; 27 cm.
ISBN 088776231X

How Pizza Came To Queens. Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa. New York: C.N. Potter Publishers, c1989.
26 p.: col. ill.; 27 cm.
ISBN 0517571269
(American edition of How Pizza Came To Our Town)

I Want a Dog. Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa. Montreal: Tundra Books, c1987.
24 p.: col. ill.; 22 x 28 cm.
ISBN 0887761968 (bound)
ISBN 088776326X (pbk.)

Julian. Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa. Montreal: Tundra Books, 1989.
25 p.: col. ill.; 22 x 27 cm.
ISBN 0887762379

My Family Vacation. Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa. Montreal: Tundra Books, 1988.
26 p.: col. ill.; 26 cm.
ISBN 0887762263

Sleepers. Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa. Montreal: Tundra Books, 1988.
24 p.: col. ill.; 14 cm.
ISBN 0887762123

The Snow Cat. Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa. Montreal: Tundra Books, c1992.
24 p.: col. ill.; 22 x 27 cm.
ISBN 088776293X

Tales of a Gambling Grandma. Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa. Montreal: Tundra Books, 1986.
32 p.: col. ill.; 26 cm.
ISBN 0887761798