Vibrant celebration

Literature loop

Producing top quality books for children is far from child’s play. It involves inspired and dedicated efforts of authors, illustrators and publishers, whose labour of love largely remains unsung. But children’s literature in India is finally beginning to get due recognition with a new children’s category in the Vodaphone Crossword Awards, and dedicated literary festivals. Bookaroo 2010, India’s biggest children’s literature festival, was recently held in New Delhi. It was a vibrant celebration of the best new books for Indian children, who today have more creative reading choices than ever. Time-tested classics, fairy tales and moral stories rehashed are no longer the only reading options.

Bookaroo focused upon high quality original and imaginative stories, novels, picture books, poetry and songs, a sure-fire way to keep the young ones intelligently entertained while expanding their intellectual horizons. Best and most heartening of all, home-grown books exemplifying the highest standards in creative writing, artwork and production quality stood up to be read and appreciated alongside the latest and biggest names from around the world.  

Founded in 2008, Bookaroo has now become a much-anticipated annual event. This year’s festival began with book-related activities held in schools across New Delhi. During the concluding days of Bookaroo 2010, creative works of fiction came to life through book-based activities, games, quizzes, workshops, shadow-puppetry, discussion on crafting stories, and a very popular doodle wall. Authors visiting from far corners of the country and the world engaged visitors with lively discussions. Authors, illustrators, editors and publishers wore princely robes or ghoul masks and rendered dramatised readings from their books. International star participants such as Anthony Horowitz, creator of the bestselling Alex Rider teenage spy series, creator of intricate and magical pop-up books Robert Sabuda, acclaimed fantasy author Sarah Prineas and Australian author Wendy Orr were huge crowd pullers. Well-known Indians such as Subhadra Sen Gupta and Samit Basu and a host of newer authors enthralled their young audiences. While the festival primarily focused upon children’s literature in English, the Dastangoi performances incorporated a high level of Urdu and a presentation by Jeeva Raghunath included Tamil songs, all of which received rave responses from the audience.  

Bookaroo 2010 showcased shifting trends and perceptions. Children, coming in busloads from not just Delhi schools, but even remote places like Sikkim, were the real stars of the festival. With free entry and seating on a first come first serve basis, this was a democratic forum where young people ruled. The number of visitors at Bookaroo has grown exponentially over the years. The bookstore saw huge crowds queuing up to buy books which children chose for themselves. More parents were opening their purses and no longer restricting children to ‘safe’ books meant to instill some valuable moral lesson or cram them with ‘knowledge.’

Roshan Adve, a class III student at Bluebells School in Delhi, spent the day at Bookaroo with six of his friends. “I really liked the doodle wall,” he said, “and we bought loads of books. My favourite is How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell — I’ve read three of the books in the series already!”  

Swati Roy of the Bookaroo Trust, the moving force behind the festival, has felt this demand for imaginative and fun books in her Eureka Bookstore devoted exclusively to children’s books. Sensing a growing demand, leading Indian publishers are opening up to new authors and concepts to produce a wider variety of high quality children’s books.
Naturally, authors couldn’t be happier.

“This is my second year at Bookaroo and I think the festival goes from strength to strength,” says Roopa Pai, author of the Taranauts series. “It is a great platform to connect with readers, and connect with your peers in the same field, not just from India, but around the world. But more importantly, it is a strong statement that children’s writing in India has finally come of age. It is one of the big reasons that the media is suddenly giving children’s writers and illustrators a lot more attention, respect, and space in their publications.”  

Part of the festivities was Bookart 10, a unique and wonderful exhibition by the finest Indian illustrators for children’s books, who are at long last beginning to get due recognition for their enchanting and beautifully crafted artworks. Artists also held sessions sharing drawing tips with children.  

“Bookaroo is a dream come true for every children’s book lover,” says Swati Roy.  “It may have been a struggle to set it up, but the end result was exhilarating. Organising the festival is a cohesive year-long team effort. Funds, programming and logistics take up the most time. Plans to bring the Children’s Literature Festival to other cities across India are underway. The support of all children’s literature publishers has made our job easier,” Roy adds. “We now have happy sponsors who look forward to associating themselves with us year after year. Teamwork, our partners from this year onwards, with their expertise in handling major literary festivals, will be a great help to us as we move ahead.”

As for bringing in the crowds, it’s not an issue since there’s a rising interest in children’s literature, she feels.

While visitors to Bookaroo are shooting up every year, there is a long road ahead. It will take many more Bookaroos to draw the attention of India’s huge urban middle class to the benefits of encouraging children to read for enjoyment.