LOCHANA Radaliyagoda never thought she’d become a published author; in fact, she had never given writing much thought at all.

However, after receiving the Audrey Fagan Young Woman’s Enrichment Grant in 2020 she realised that writing a children’s book would be the perfect way to share her message of empowerment.

Now Lochana’s published work is on bookshop shelves across Canberra.

“It feels great to be published at such a young age, it hasn’t really hit me yet,” says the 17-year-old Burgmann Anglican School student. 

“It’s a mixture of feelings because it’s been so long coming.

“It’s been a three-year project, it’s crazy that it’s coming to an end. 

“I’m excited to see what opportunities this opens up for me and how it influences and impacts children.” 

“Feel the Flame” was inspired by the fire she sees in little kids’ eyes, Lochana says. 

“I’m a dance teacher, so I have kids come in all the time and you see the little girls and they have these big dreams,” she says.

“They want to be an astronaut or they want to be a politician, all these big dreams and big ideas, but once they grow up and hit around 13, that fire and drive starts to die down.

“I think a big reason for that is society in general, and how we put limitations on children, sometimes unknowingly.

“‘Feel the Flame’ aims to empower young people to keep that fire and keep those dreams close to their hearts.”

While “Feel the Fame” holds a special place in her heart, Lochana says she doesn’t have any plans to write another book.

“I get a lot of people asking me if I want to write another book, but honestly writing wasn’t something that I ever thought I was going to do or ever really had a dream for or anything,” she says. 

“I wanted to do it because I felt like writing a children’s book would be the first step to making a difference in the lives of children.

“Children’s books and books in general are things that I personally have been inspired from and I think that even though they are short, they deliver strong messages to people of all ages.

“It’s something that you can carry through your whole life.”

Lochana discovered the Audrey Fagan Young Woman’s Enrichment Grant when a friend of her mother forwarded it on to her. 

Fagan was the ACT police chief from 2005 until her untimely death in 2007. The grants, in her memory, are made annually to provide girls, young women, non-binary and gender-diverse people aged 12 to 18 years with an opportunity to receive support to develop a project. 

“I read through it and I had no idea what I was going to do, but I knew I wanted to apply,” she says.

“At the beginning it was a bit confusing, I had no idea what to do after I got the grant.

“I talked to a lot of different people, eventually I was introduced to Juliette Dudley who did the illustrations.

“She had a really good knowledge of the processes involved in publishing a book so that was really helpful, she guided me through it all.”

Lochana says her inspirations in life have always been strong women. 

“Julia Gillard was a huge inspiration because when I was born it was when she started to rise and I thought it was incredible,” she says.

“In ‘Feel the Flame’, there is a princess who has a fire in her, and she goes through and meets significant people like Julia Gillard and Greta Thunberg and people like that who have strong messages.

“She uses that to keep that fire within her burning and uses her flame to ignite the children in her community.”

However, closer to home Lochana says her main inspiration has always been her mother. 

“My mum is really strong, in how far she has come in her life thus far and all the things she has faced,” she says.

“She has always been the person that’s been giving me the fire to keep going.”

To her fellow young Canberrans, Lochana says you are never too young to try.

“I think it’s something that I was worried about a bit as well, am I too young? Is it going to be too difficult? It can be a bit intimidating,” she says.

“No matter how long it takes, keep pushing through, once you start you just have to keep pushing.”

“Feel the Flame” (rrp $26.95) is available through Lochana’s website – lochanaradaliyagoda.com – and in all major bookstores.