My Expressions

Parag, an initiative of the TATA Trusts, supports the development of and access to good quality story books for children in Indian languages. Parag supports school and community libraries so that children have free access to books and an open and vibrant environment that supports reading for pleasure.

Parag also works to nurture the children’s literature sector through awards, professional courses and linking various stakeholders together through events for teachers, librarians and facilitators.

Curious Times is pleased to share the views of Ms. Swaha Sahoo, Head – Parag- An initiative of Tata Trusts on the role literature can play in the lives of children, the importance of inclusive literature, the role of parents and educators in inculcating early reading habits and weaving literature and stories in children’s day to day reading. She also talks about The Big Little Book Award and Parag Honour List.

The role that literature can play in validating children’s experiences due to an element of relatability and in turn help them helps them reconcile with the reality of their experiences.

Reading for self, without the need to sit for exams or prove one’s knowledge, nourishes the soul. When they understand the story and engage with it, children share, express, discuss and reflect. Through literature, children are able to understand themselves better, make sense of the world around them, and able to build relationships. Good books have the power to connect deeply with our personal realities while also helping us understand and empathize with others and, over time, bring about larger shifts in perspective.

Stories also have the power to relate to each one of us differently because we bring our experiences to any story that we read. Stories are a powerful medium to reach children without being didactic or preachy. The right stories build empathy, kindness and understanding.

Importance of inclusive literature – as children may be able to accept themselves better and the need to expand such literature so children can understand the conditions of mental health

Inclusion is essential. What children read impacts how they see the world. If they read books which has children with disability and children from different socio-economic backgrounds they will become aware and hopefully sensitive towards the “other”, or children different from them.

Books have a responsibility of fighting gender stereotypes, talking about issues although not at the cost of the story. If it’s not a good story and the child does not enjoy reading it, then inclusion will not make an impact. All children need to see and experience themselves, but also others who are different from them in stories.

Diversity in books supported by Parag comes in many forms – strong female protagonists, different childhoods, raising social issues and conflicts through stories and questioning stereotypes. Diversity and multiculturalism in illustrations are also important themes for us.

Significance of introducing stakeholders like parents and teachers to children’s literature in order to sensitise them and open conversations that can help engage in topics around mental health with children.

Books reach children through parents, teachers and educators. They also make the buying decision and therefore it is important that they understand the role of literature in children’s lives. Adults can act as a bridge between books and children; they can introduce children to different stories and characters, enable discussion and reflection and build a reading culture. To be able to do this they have to become readers first.

Initiatives by Parag to revive reading across languages for children – such as BLBA and Parag Honour List

All children like a good story and having access to books in the mother tongue or home language is especially important. For millions of children attending government schools in India, storybooks in their language hold special meaning. Yet availability and access to age-appropriate, engaging reading material in regional languages remains a major challenge for children in India, with only a handful of publishers engaged in this.

The Parag Initiative goes beyond the mainstream education channels and tries to connect the students with their own surrounding, region and more importantly themselves. It tries to make literature available in regional languages for the children, which makes the literature more relevant & interesting for them in the process of learning.

Enabling availability of children’s literature in multiple Indian languages increases not only access for a large number of children but also makes education equitable. 

The Big Little Book Award was instituted by Parag to recognize and honour significant contribution of authors and illustrators to children’s literature in Indian languages. The award is given under two categories –author and illustrator/artist.

Every year, one Indian language is chosen for awarding an author. An eminent panel selects the winners. Past winners in the author category have included Madhuri Purandare (in Marathi in 2016), Nabaneeta Dev Sen (in Bengali in 2017), Nagesh Hegde (in Kannada in 2018), Prabhat (in Hindi in 2019) and Subhadra Sen Gupta (in English in 2020). The winners in the illustrator category have included Atanu Roy (2016), Proiti Roy (2017), Nina Sabnani (2018) and Priya Kuriyan (2019) and Rajiv Eipe (2020).

The Big Little Book Award aims to create a platform for young readers, parents, schools, publishers and other stakeholders to meet and read the work of authors/illustrators. The goal is to ensure every child experiences the joys of reading and reading good children’s books.

Parag Honour List is a curated collection of outstanding books in English and in Hindi, for children and young adults, by the Parag Initiative of Tata Trusts. This list, published annually, comprises noteworthy books of the year with brief information about each title. It has been created with careful screening and multiple reviews by experts in the children’s literature sector. The list aims to promote access to a comprehensive curated list of good quality children’s literature that librarians, teachers, parents and children can refer to and read.

Recommendations to parents and educators on how reading habits can be built among young children. 

The first for parents and educators is to start reading and demonstrating that reading is a pleasurable activity that they do for fun. Children model what they see. If they see us with mobiles all the time they will want the same. As parents and educators, we can read to children, show an interest in the books they are reading, read the same book and have healthy discussions on some books.

We can allow children to choose books of their choice. We also have to give them time to read because reading is done at leisure and today children are tied to timetables and activities. We can read in different languages, read different genres such as fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc. so that children are also exposed to this variety.

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