Sunday Times 2
Lapping up Inca’s adventures
The author Dr Krishanthi Rondon-Fuentes. Pix by Amila Gamage
Inca, the Siberian kitty who likes to describe herself as a super-duper cat detective tiptoed into the Lighthouse auditorium of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute on December 14 and it looks like this cute and curious feline is going places. Inca is a much-travelled puss, in fact quite the globe-trotter – she goes where her adventures lead her.
The Diary of a Snoopy Cat series for children by R.F. Kristi, published by Sarasavi comprises seven books including ‘Cats in Provence’, ‘Diary of a Snoopy Cat’, ‘Cat Detectives in the Korean Peninsula’, ‘Serendipity Mystery’, ‘Ninja Spy Cats’ and ‘The Cats who crossed over from Paris’.
Author Dr Krishanthi Rondon-Fuentes, who has a doctorate in economic development worked for UNESCO and UNICEF and has just been honoured by Top Shelf magazine as the finalist of this year’s book awards.
Inca, maintains a diary about her detective adventures, as she helps solve mysteries wherever she goes with her furry family. The eldest and big sister of what she calls the “furry pack”, her family includes Cara, a Siamese kitty who is as Inca describes her prim and proper and the prissy one in the family. Then there is the Tabby-cat Fromage, named after the cheese that he adores. He is also quite accident prone, and often the cause of broken things in the household. Charlotte is a Roborovski dwarf hamster,who joined the family after meeting Fromage in their cheese shop and is best buddies with him much to Inca’s confusion. Lastly there is the “humanoid jointly owned by us” as Inca puts it in her diary; they call her mom, but her name is Missy. Missy has a cheese shop in Paris and feeds, grooms the cats, thinking that she owns them, but really they own her.
“Even as a child, my favourite pastime was reading. In addition, animals have always been a part of my life. While working for UNESCO Paris, I had the urge to write for children, mainly to encourage them to appreciate animals. I also learned about the benefits reaped by children growing up with animals. So, what better way to encourage children to love and appreciate animals than by reading adventure stories about animals,” Krishanthi said.
Young readers read excerpts from the book
“The intelligence of cats has always fascinated me. Especially Inca, a Siberian kitten I had the good fortune to acquire while in Paris. Watching Inca and Cara, a blue-eyed Siamese I had brought in as a companion to Inca made me imagine the cat detective series,” she added.
The chief guest at the launch was the former Principal of Ladies College, Nirmalie Wickramasinghe, while Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the UK Manisha Gunasekara, the Deputy Ambassador of the Italian Embassy in Sri Lanka, Allegra Baistrocchi, and the owner of Sarasavi Publishers H.D. Premasiri also were among the gathering.
Amithi Alees Moragoda and DilmaniWarnasuriya, who were both editors of the book introduced the author, reminiscing about her childhood exploits and their long standing friendship with her. The event continued with an animated video of a scene from one of the books, and the reading of excerpts from the book both in English and Sinhala by young readers, Sahani Chandraratne, Annika Silva, Mahela Silva, Ariana Alles, Yenal Fernando, Indi Hewage and Nilasha Fernando.
The proceeds from the sales of the books will entirely go to animal welfare and the books can purchased in Sarasavi Bookshops and on Amazon. They have already been translated into Sinhala, French, Spanish, German and Chinese. The Tamil and Russian translations of the book will be out soon.
The Inca cat series is available at Sarasavi Bookshop from
Rs 800 upwards.