The Story

The story, as I remember it, goes like this:  After some initial success with a series of colorful board books designed for infants and called Baabee Books, Dayal Kaur went to New York in 1985.  It was there that she signed a contract with a big publisher.  On the same visit, she also learned that she had cancer.  With such powerfully conflicted emotions, Dayal Kaur visited the hallowed Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and found the clarity and resolution to go forward.  And go forward she did.  Like a blazing meteor, she wrote and illustrated eight books over the next four years while undergoing treatment for her cancer. 

Tales of a Gambling Grandma, I Want a Dog, Sleepers, My Family Vacation, How Pizza Came to Queens, Julian, Cowboy Dreams and Snow Cat - mostly based on her life experiences - won Dayal Kaur prizes, fame and a little fortune.  Her last three titles were published posthumously.

Dayal Kaur moved to Vancouver to live out her final months on this precious planet with friends, Ram Kirn Kaur and Hari Singh and their son, Hari Jiwan Singh.  It was there, that she heroically took up her paints and brushes once more to make the generous masterpieces illustrating this page.

Childhood story of Guru Nanak where a cobra gave him shade as he slept. Note the Holstein cows. Dayal Kaur would have known that this breed of cattle were not native to India, but as a Western Sikh she illustrated the universality of Guru Nanak's story and teachings.

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This is Guru Nanak during his time serving in the granary at Sultanpur. Not only he was fair, but it was said that people ended up with more grain than was given.

Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana meeting with yogis

So many animals! Note the Sikh children riding the lion in the middle. This may have been Dayal Kaur's last illustration. Her waning physical coordination in her final days is apparent in some of the images.

Dayal Kaur in her workshop at Guru Ram Das Ashram in Montreal, where she created her books in the early to mid 1980s in the company of dear friends Dharm Kaur, Jagdish Kaur and Prem Kaur.

Those who knew Dayal Kaur remember her as a great storyteller with a priceless gift of humour.  This article published in the 3HO magazine Beads of Truth in 1977, presents a charming picture of a community at a precious stage of being.  In later years, ashram autocrats were fair game for her sharp wit.  LINK

More on Dayal Kaur's Life and Works

Wikipedia article  LINK
A Journey through Dayal Kaur's published work  LINK
Dayal Kaur's Life Story by Barbara B Yoffee  LINK
Books courtesy of Library and Archives Canada  LINK
Awards and honours courtesy of Library and Archives Canada  LINK
Famous Art included in Dayal Kaur's books courtesy of Library and Archives Canada  LINK