The multi-hyphenate Vikas Khanna’s latest offering is a children’s illustrated book, Barefoot Empress (Bloomsbury, Rs 299), based on a short film of the same name that he made earlier this year.

The book, as in the film, revisits the real-life story of the remarkable Karthyayani Amma, from Haripad in the Alappuzha district of Kerala, who swept the streets outside temples in her village for a living. At the age of 96, she became the oldest among 43,330 candidates to have appeared for the Aksharalaksham test, a class IV equivalent examination. Karthyayani wowed the entire country by topping the literacy examination conducted by the Kerala government, scoring 98 out of 100, a record certified by the state-run Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority (KSLMA). Karthyayani Amma, who is now determined to complete Class X before she turns 100, has motivated many, including the chef, filmmaker and author Khanna to revisit her story in multiple formats, including the just-released text, illustrated by artist Aaryama Somayaji.