Australia’s Youngest Female Writer, Ashleen Khela, Exclusively on Indus Age

Meet Ashleen Khela, the talented 11 years old, who is Australia’s youngest female published book writer. She is the eldest sister of 8 years old Miss Avleen and 6 years old Angad. Her father moved to Australia in 1998 for further studies on his own. While her mother moved to Australia in the same year with her parents. Ashleen completed year 6 from Kenthurst Public school in December 2023 and now studies in year 7 at Mount St Benedict Girls College Pennant Hills. While the joint family concept has almost disappeared in India, 11 members of three generations of her family live under one roof at their 5 Acres semi-rural Kenthurst home. Her family includes her parents, grandparents, sister-brother, cousin Amreen-Armaan, uncle Baljeet Khela and aunt Mandeep. She has won NSW Premier’s platinum award for completing premier’s reading challenge for consecutive 7 years of her primary school journey. She is fond of reading literary books. She has read over 500 different books.

Indus Age caught up with the child prodigy, where she spills the beans about her book 17 Stories, and a lot more.

By Nidhi Kumari

Many congratulations on your debut book; take us through how the idea of the book came to you and the inspiration behind the same.

Thank you for your well wishes and the opportunity. As you perhaps already know, I come from a family of writers and journalists. My grandfather Mr Manmohan Singh Khela is a retired school headmaster and a writer himself. His articles based on his personal life experiences have been publishing in various newspapers of Punjab for the past many decades. The articles written by my father Mr Amarjit Khela started to publish on the editorial pages of top notch Punjabi newspapers back in Punjab when he was only 17 years old. Between 1999 and 2008, he wrote his regular column ‘Australian Diary’ for number of daily newspapers publishing from Punjab. My father has also authored a book titled ‘I don’t lie’. My uncle Baljeet Khela has also written columns for daily Punjab Kesari and Hind Samachar for many years. So, to certain extent, writing is in my blood. It may be fair to say that I got some heredity writing skills.

I was only 8 when I discovered my love of writing and then came COVID restricting everyone’s movements. “I was so bored, I started drawing and then I started writing. I am best at writing fiction but I like mixing my real life experiences into my fiction.”

The inspiration for my debut book writing journey stems from my trips to India, where once donating bananas to roadside hovel kids, I realised for the first time that there are kids in some parts of the world, for whom a single banana is like a big retreat. I was so shocked and touched that I decided to write and raise funds through my writings for them as I witnessed social disparities in rural India.

Your book is titled 17 stories; enlighten us more about your book. Which part of the book is your favourite?
As the name suggests, my book includes seventeen different short stories. They are all fictional but some are also influenced from my real life experiences.

From my Sydney backyard during the COVID lockdown to the enchanting realms of caves, mountains, and rural Punjab in India, I invite my readers on an imaginative journey. In one of my story named ‘Elisa and Josephine’, I encourage reflection on social injustice and deprivation, especially highlighting the challenges faced by underprivileged children living in roadside slum hovels in developing nations. The story presents contrast in lifestyles between kids in developed and developing nations.

Another story, “Zombie Virus Diary Entry” creatively captures my personal experiences during the COVID lockdown, providing insight into the feelings of an Australian school kid confined at home during that period.
My favourite story is ‘Strange Little House’. It has the best of my imaginative skills; it brings fiction to a live reality.

How have your family, friends and school received your debut novel?

COVID lockdown started soon after I returned back from India. The banana donating incident was still puzzling and disturbing my mind. I started to write during COVID lockdown. My very first story was ‘Elisa and Josephine’ inspired by the banana incident. It will be safe to say that COVID lockdown also played an important role in making me a professional writer. When I first started to write during COVID, my parents were a bit confused as to what I was doing all those hours just sitting there and scribbling on a piece of paper. When I had told my parents I wanted to write a book to help the underprivileged, they didn’t think much of it or believe I had the capability of professional writing. I took myself pretty seriously though! Days became weeks, weeks became months but I remained dedicated and committed. I kept on writing. Then, after a few months, when I showed a few of my works to my parents they were very shocked, they had no idea what I had in me! I guess it runs in our blood! My dad even had me show my work to one of his famous author friends Ninder Guckianvir! Ninder uncle praised my writing and put me in touch with a publisher. I was super happy that I was being recognized for my skills and taking in what a young age had written these stories, for him too, was quite surprising! Finally my book got published. My family, friends and school staff were very happy for me! My principal, Mr. G.Rimmer was so happy and proud that he even launched my book at a school ceremony! Prior to the publication of the book, for me, my whole world was just my family and school but after the publication of the book, I have made lot of new friends throughout the world.

You are also trying to raise funds for charity through your book; tell us more about the cause you are working for and how can anyone willing to contribute do so?

Not only did I write the ‘17 Stories’ book but I did all the illustrations and raised the money myself to have the book published. I worked hard over two years to raise funds to cover the cost associated with publication. For two years, I collected used drink cans, plastic and glass bottles which I took to recycling stations. I also planted yucca, mango, guava and jacaranda trees in her backyard during COVID lockdown and later, sold those. To make up the final amount I broke open my piggy bank. All proceeds from the sale of 17 Stories will be donated to the Cancer Council Australia, Starlight Kids Foundation as well as contribute towards the underprivileged kids of India and other developing nations. Anyone willing to contribute or support my cause can buy one or two copies of my book for their kids or to donate to their local library or school in India. If you can skip one lunch or couple of drinks in a week to put $25 aside to buy my book, I can feed at least 1 child in India for a week with that money.

Tell us how you manage both studies and writing?

Writing is my hobby. I keep a fine balance between my studies and pursuing my hobby. I usually write on the weekends or during school holidays.

Tell us about your future plans.

I love reading new books and helping others. I plan to write at least one book every year to continue raising funds for the charities and giving back to the community. In the past, whenever we visited India during Christmas holidays, I saw my family donating laptops, stationary, uniforms, sports equipment, and warm clothes to the village school kids. In future I plan to establish my own charity to assist the underprivileged kids in developing nations though my wish is to become a doctor to help the others. Nonetheless writing will ever remain my hobby. My parents always told me that nothing is impossible to achieve as long as we are honest, dedicated, committed and focussed. Their teachings made me to believe that the age is no barrier to pursuing our dreams. No one is too old or too young to make a difference or to contribute to the society through their personal accomplishments in their chosen fields. I believe anyone can be the special achiever in any field of their interest and can help the others at the same time. Acts of kindness can make the world a happier place for everyone. They can boost feelings of confidence, happiness and optimism.

The book can be purchased through www.ashleenkhela.com

You can also write to Ashleen to obtain a copy by emailing at ariesash1204@gmail.com