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Enabling access for children to all varieties of literature can do wonders for their success. Not only is reading literature important in developing cognitive skills so they can perform well at school, but it is valuable for other reasons as well. Exposing children to literature helps them develop emotional intelligence and creativity; it fosters holistic growth and development and shapes up the child’s personality and social skills.

Over the last two decades, a handful of authors have attempted to give voice to Indian children’s literature with stories that talk to young readers about who they are and help them navigate a multicultural and multilingual environment. These authors have attempted to balance the traditional with the contemporary to reflect the Indian reality in content, visuals and production. They have given us stories that are not didactic but layered and sensitive, illustrations that fight gender and caste stereotypes, are inclusive, bring humour and fun into books, and books that make for great reading.

Check out five such authors below that are passionately working towards making children’s literature more inclusive and diverse:

Subhadra Sen Gupta

She has written over sixty children’s books and at the same time, she has worked in advertising for twenty years. Her interest in history led to her studying the subject at Indraprastha College, Delhi and over the years historical writing has become her main area of interest. She has been published by most of the major publishing houses in India like Rupa, Penguin, Pratham, Scholastic, Harper Collins, Speaking Tiger and Hachette. Subhadra writes fiction, nonfiction and travel books and scripts comic books illustrated by Tapas Guha. Keeping in touch with children is one of the joys of her life and over the years her young readers have guided her in the way she presents the many aspects of Indian history and culture. Therefore, she makes it a point to mention her e-mail id in her books so she can have interesting conversations with children about a variety of topics. She was awarded the Bal Sahitya Puraskar of the Sahitya Akademi in 2014; the Comic Con Award with Tapas Guha in 2012 and three of her books have been chosen for the White Ravens Selection at the Bologna Book Fair. Subhadra most recently won the Big Little Book Award 2020 in the author category for her contributions to children’s literature.

Prabhat

Prabhat a well-known children’s writer in Hindi, has several titles to his name and published by a range of publishers. His first books ‘Kalibai’ by Room to Read and ‘Paniyon ki Gadiyon Mein’ by Lokayat were published in 2005, which marked the beginning of a journey through which he could touch a lot of young minds. Writing in children’s magazines has also been an intrinsic part of his writing career and he has published several poems in magazines. Prabhat’s writing is flavoured by his ability to weave humour, imagination, and empathy in his stories, much to the amusement of readers from a wide age group. He has emerged as a pioneer of the contemporary style of writing for children using language that is simple and often local. He holds the ability to write across genres and doesn’t shy away from writing about difficult topics and conflicts in a style that is tender yet complex. Securing a place in the domain of education, Prabhat’s contribution to children’s literature has been significant, to say the least.  For the same, he was recognised as the winning author at the Big Little Book Award 2019. In addition to being a renowned writer, he is also a poet who heartily talks about the fulfillment he feels when children publish his poems in magazines with their names on it as it conveys to him that they have accepted this play of words as their own.

Nagesh Hegde

Nagesh is an Indian author, journalist, environmentalist, publisher and professor who writes on science and environment in Kannada. Born in a village ‘Bakkemane’ in North Kanara District of Karnataka, he holds a M.Sc. from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and M.Phil from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He was Professor of Environment Geology in Nainital. He has worked with Prajavani daily as science and development journalist before moving on to Sudha Weekly as a feature writer. Nagesh Hegde has worked towards popularising science among rural communities and is equally committed to language and biodiversity. Some of his notable work includes ‘Apoorva Paschimaghatta’, ‘Kereyali Chinna’, ‘Kereye Chinna’ and ‘Hallimukka Yellel Hokka’. His contemporary writing style has shone through his skillful use of humour and wit in explaining complex scientific concepts with ease, irking curiosity among his young readers. His writings in Kannada have become textbook lessons from primary school to various universities in Karnataka. He has received highest awards in journalism and literature including the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award.

Nabaneeta Dev Sen

Nabaneeta is a prolific name who wore many hats throughout her illustrious career including being a poet, fiction and non-fiction writer, Bengali columnist, and a scholar of comparative literature and making a name for herself in each of these roles. Having completed her Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1964, she has extensively written for children, carving her name in their hearts and minds through her spectacular fairytales and adventure stories with girls as protagonists. Dev Sen is a recipient of the Sahitya Academy Award and the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award has written for children as well as general readers over her career. She explored a wide range of human emotions in some of her bestsellers such as ‘Chhotto Bubul ar Porira’, ‘Mou er Bondhura’, and ‘Swapno Kenar Sadagar’. Dev Sen was also awarded the Padma Shri in 2000, the fourth highest civilian award by the Government of India. Her contribution towards the children’s literature space in Bengali was recognised by Tata Trusts when she was conferred the Big Little Book Award in 2017 for the author category. Despite her sad demise in 2019, her legacy lives through the young and old readers alike she has inspired over her career to this very day and her contributions to Bengali literature remain invaluable.

Madhuri Purandare

Madhuri has written and illustrated more than 23 storybooks including the Yash Series – a series of six books that take us into the utterly enchanting everyday world of little Yash. Others include ‘Radhache Ghar’, ‘Chitravachan’, Hana’s Suitcase (translated into Marathi), ‘Babachya Mishya’, Aunty Jui’s Baby and The Hundred and Thirty-seventh Leg. Her books are about regular, ordinary things that children encounter in their everyday lives illustrated with great detail for small things. She has conceived and edited ‘Vaachu Aanande’ – a thematic anthology of Marathi literature and Indian Art for children between 10 to 15 years of age. Because of her keen interest in language and grammar, she authored a three-volume book containing a series of Marathi language exercises for school children titled ‘Lihave Netke’. She is vocal about the need for literature to be context-appropriate and her stories give a ‘voice’ to children who could well be from any part of India by tackling simple, daily ‘issues’ of interest to them. She has a degree from JJ school of Arts and studied ‘Painting and Graphic Arts’ in Paris for one year. She teaches French and is a versatile artist who has performed on theater apart from writing and illustrating.

One body of work that has been recognizing the contribution of authors to the field of children’s literature is The Big Little Book Award. It is is a first of its kind award instituted by the Parag initiative of Tata Trusts to recognize and honour significant contribution of authors and illustrators to children’s literature in Indian language(s). The first awards were announced at Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest in 2016.

Currently in its fifth edition, the award, instituted by Parag, an initiative of Tata Trusts, was presented on 15^th December 2020 to Subhadra Sen Gupta in the author category and Rajiv Eipe in the illustrator category.

The article is published on Curious Times, a Global Platform for Children, focussed on 21st Century Skills.
The platform is widely used across schools and student-parent communities across the globe. Its publications – Curious Times Weekly and The Curious Magazine are specially curated for children of the 21st-Century.

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