There's been much debate over the rewriting of a number of Roald Dahl's books this past week, with everyone from Salman Rushdie to Philip Pullman to PEN America weighing in on the matter.
Earlier this week, my father announced on our family WhatsApp group, that he had surrendered our landline number of over 30 years.
* Want to start a creative writing project but need help getting started? * Having a creative slump with your writing? * Looking for a safe space to write and share with others without any pressure?* Want to do something creative that’s totally unrelated to your day job?
Mehlli Gobhai (1931-2018) was a painter and illustrator who trained at The Royal College of Art, London, The Pratt Graphic Centre and the Art Students League, New York.
I've been interviewing illustrators these past few months for a series of stories for The Hindu Sunday Magazine. The interviews are fairly in-depth and sadly, I can't include everything I want to in the final story (damn these word counts!). So, I thought I'd start sharing the interviews here for those interested in knowing more.
Silence by the Buddhist monk Thich That Hanh is one of those books you read and it all seems so simple, so obvious, so doable. Of course if I slowed down and silenced the voices that chattered away in my mind I'd be a happier person. If I practiced mindfulness, nourishment and silence things would be better. It's one of those deceptively simple books which you read and feel certain that today is the day you will put these ideals into practice and begin anew. And then of course you pick up your phone and doom scroll or hate scroll or whatever kind of scroll it is you do. Well, at least that's what I did. But I kept returning to read small passages of the books in moments of overwhelm and found comfort and felt hope.
This time around, we decided to talk about a picture book biography that we adore, while also wondering if we like it a little extra because we’ve both been working in the children’s books space for a while now. Inspired by a true story, Biblioburro by Jeanette Winter is the story of Luis Suriano, a teacher in Colombia, who took books to children who have no access to a library. On his burros, Alfa and Beto.
When I read 'In The Land Where Beetles Rule' by Suniti Namjoshi and illustrated by Krishna Bala Shenoi (Pratham Books), the words of global activist Kumi Naidoo from a recent episode of The Subverse podcast came to mind "The planet does not need saving. If we continue on the path that we are on, we will be gone. The planet will still be here."
When I was in class 6 I joined a new school. I stuck out a fair bit with my short hair ( boy cut) and the Bermuda shorts and t-shirts I wore to school while I waited for my uniforms to get stitched. It was an all girls school and I was often asked if I was a boy. Where I was from. And what I was doing there.
I don't know about you, but as a writer, I am insanely curious about how other writers write. I love to know about their routines, rituals, how they balance writing with day jobs, how they handle rewrites, how long it takes them to write a draft, what kind of tea they drink and any other morsel of information they're happy to share.
My friend Yamini and I talk about picture books a lot, and this time, we didn’t want to be restricted by what it means for children and how they might see it. As adults who take picture books seriously (and children’s book authors), we also wanted to chat freely about why we love something, or don’t. We wanted to share our conversations as they normally are, without overthinking things (or over-editing it). One of us has two children and the other has none, but the reason we turn to picture books is really for ourselves—for its beauty, wisdom and brilliant humour.
Today morning, after the kids had left for school and I'd walked the dog and had a second cup of coffee, I sat down feeling... deflated. I tried doing some breathing exercises in the hope that I'd feel a bit better ('inflated?'), but that didn't work either.
So, I thought I'd do a summer theme and review some children's books, but I guess that's not happening. It isn't my fault okay? Parinita Shetty and Aindri C.'s new Hook Book 'A Birthday Present for Aaji' is entirely to blame.
After two years of summers spent in lockdowns, misery and grief, it seems like the summer of 2022 might be ok. I say this cautiously and with all my fingers and toes crossed. I'm hoping to review a bunch of fun, summer reads for children over the next few weeks. Up first is Meera Ganapathy and Parmita Mukherjee's book, published by Puffin India.
Parents, beware of the things you say to your children in a fit of love and adoration! You can't be sure how they'll interpret your words.
When I was in school, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was accorded one paragraph in our history textbooks. He was the Father of the Indian Constitution and India's first Law and Justice minister. There was no mention of the fact that he was 'a visionary, an economist, a revolutionary and a lifelong reader.'
Here's a fun fact: when I was in grade 2 or 3, I used to love memorising (or learning by-heart as we used to say) poems from Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes. And then, when my father would bring home colleagues for dinner, I would insist that I recite them a poem before they sat down to eat. No one needed to coax or encourage me at all. I would insist on being heard.
A few years ago I was in Majuli, a river island in the Brahmaputra, Assam. I had travelled their with a small film crew to capture how a set of STEM books published by Pratham Books, a non-profit, multilingual children's books publishing house were being used by teachers in two schools to help students learn STEM concepts and foster a sense of curiosity in their minds.
We are both drawn to picture books that have slightly strange and whimsical art, but also ones that are unafraid to explore darker themes, and offer new perspectives with wit and originality. Here is a bunch that we hold really close:
Perhaps YA author Julie Murphy said it best: Young Adult books give teens and pre-teens a safe space to learn about very real and important situations. Some of our favourite books for this age group address self-acceptance, grief, sexuality, climate change and systemic greed.
