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Showing posts with label Shailja Jain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shailja Jain. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Tulika turns 15..and takes a bow

Concluding the series of blog posts on Tulika's 15-year journey..here is a round-up of books that have won awards and the books that will be coming to a bookshop near you this year...but first a lovely birthday card from Shailja Jain, the talented illustrator of Jhakkad, Sabri's Colours, Rangoli and The Talkative Tortoise.




Water Stories from Around the World
Winner of the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) award for excellence in book production 2010
Just a Train Ride Away by Mini Shrinivasan
Winner of the first Bal Sahitya Puraskar for a children’s book in English 2010
A Silly Story of Bondapalli text Shamim Padamsee pictures Ashok Rajagopalan
Selected by AWIC India as Outstanding Picture Book, Nambook Korea 2010
What Shall I Make? text Nandini Nayar pictures Proiti Roy
Outstanding International Book 2010 selected by the United States Board for Books for Young People (USBBY)
My Mother’s Sari written by Sandhya Rao pictures Nina Sabnani
Outstanding International Book, 2007 selected by the United States Board for Books for Young People (USBBY) and the Children’s Book Council
The Seed text and pictures Deepa Balsavar
Outstanding International Book for children selected for The White Ravens 2007
My Friend, the Sea by Sandhya Rao
Winner of Ambitious Children’s Book Project award at the Berlin Children and Youth Literature Festival 2005
And Land Was Born & Yaar Adutha Ningthou? (Tamil translation of Who Will Be Ningthou?)
Award for Excellence in Publishing from the Federation of Indian Publishers, 2000
AWIC/Indian BBY award in recognition of Tulika’s impressive and significant
contribution as a publisher of children’s books 2007.
Uttam Bal Sahitya award from Tamilnadu Hindi Academy to Tulika in 2007
Certificate of Recognition and Appreciation received from the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2007
Certificate of Appreciation to Tulika Publishers from the Center for South Asia,
University of Wisconsin – Madison for valuable contributions to the Summer 2003
Fulbright Hays Group Project Abroad Curriculum Development Project, 2003
looking ahead . . .
2011 promises to be yet another exciting year, choc-a-bloc with new books
brimming with new ideas and imagination. Kaka is on a creative high!
Aluguti Toluguti
Move over, Contrary Mary, here come ‘Dampadam pappadam’ and ‘Khabadak khabadak ghodoba’. Aluguti Toluguti is a collection of children’s rhymes in different Indian languages, in the original as well as reinvented in a lively, recitable English translation. Our intern from Pune, Kshitiz, has been having a khabadak time doing the pictures.
The Enchanted Saarang by Asha Hanley, illustrated by Proiti Roy
An evocative collection of stories, enchantingly illustrated. Asha brings to every corner of every reader’s heart the deepest, most hidden creatures and feelings from a little represented region in children’s books: Kashmir.
The Mystery of Blue by Muriel Kakani, illustrated by Boski Jain
The Ilkal fabrics shine yellow, red, orange, green.... but blue, ah, the multi-hued blue…now that is elusive. This picture book tells how the mysterious blue was found and recreated on cloth, thanks to an intrepid little girl and her pigeon friend, Chandrakali. In nine languages.
Beyond the Blue River by Vinayan Bhaskaran
A fantasy novel to challenge all: the adventures of an auto with a mind of her own and dreams that she dares to follow in this world, and worlds within and far beyond. A bold, fresh, new voice on the literary scene.
Mayil Will Not Be Quiet by Niveditha Subramaniam and Sowmya Rajendran
An engaging, amusing, provocative journey into the mind of a 12 going on 13 year old girl who wants to know why why why... Questions, confusions and reflections of one who wants to become a writer, from two wonderfully talented young authors.
Stone Eggs: The Story of Indian Dinosaurs
by
Helen Rundgren, illustrated by Soumya Menon
Shankar thought dinosaurs roamed about only in faraway America... until he and sister stumble upon some beautiful round stone eggs in their grandmother’s village. A unique book with lots of information on Indian dinosaurs for the first time.
Stitching Stories by Nina Sabnani and the artists of Kala Raksha
The Looking at Art series takes a fresh turn by focusing on inherited craft as personalised art. Based on Nina Sabnani’s award-winning film Tanko Bole Chhe (The Stitches Speak), this gorgeously visual book looks at embroidery in Gujarat, particularly the evolution of narrative art through stitches.
In Bon Bibi’s Forest by Sandhya Rao, illustrated by Proiti Roy
The story of Sundarban where the Ganga pours into the sea and where tigers roams alongside humans and honeybees gather on trees and everyone must live together if they are to survive. The story of why someone tells them how. In the series Our Myths, in nine languages.
The Kite Tree by Avanti Mehta, illustrated by Nina Sabnani and Kalyan Joshi
A poetic journey to the top of a hill as the seasons change and a beautiful tree beckons as it grows from being brown and bare to bursting with rainbow colours. The pictures are an experimental collaborative expression between Nina and Kalyan Joshi, a renowned folk painter from Rajasthan. In nine languages.
The World Tour Mystery by Manjula Padmanabhan
Yet another stroke of genius from Manjula! This time she takes children on a trip around the world. She teases them, she pleases them, and then she tells them where they’re going and what they’re seeing. Book complete with game to play. She rules!
India Through Festivals
The much loved Celebrate India - Tulika Diary of Days, Dates and Festivals in a new avatar as a book for keeps for all ages with all you ever wanted to know about how India is such a mish of mash.
Science Concept Books
Air. Water. Soil. And more. Basic science. Basically. Visually. And fun, happily.
Black Panther by Aravind Krish Bala, illustrated by Ashok Rajagopalan
Our very own illustrator is back at his best as he takes us through the Anaimalais with first-time author Aravind, a journalist whose heart beats for wildlife. A moving story about a seldom seen animal, shared with soul and simplicity. In nine languages.
and afar . . .
. . . Inspired and energised as we create that valuable and level cultural space in which every child can read, imagine, learn, question.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Tulika's Tamil stories: Bridging the spoken and the written

Some time ago, a lively local radio jockey called to ask what I thought was special about Tamil. Words, I replied. Original and borrowed and the way people used them. In different places, in different ways. All amazingly creative.

Tamil is such a versatile language, but what happens when we write for children? It’s the Full Missyamma Mode: didactic, prescriptive, and correct at the cost of resonance, mood and elegance and if Tamil doesn’t have resonance, mood and elegance, what does it have?All this and more. That’s why it was so much fun the other evening with the irrepressible Jeeva Raghunath, a born storyteller. The event was a celebration of Tulika’s Tamil books in the spirit of Madras Week. Come on, she said, TuliKAKAvin kathai kelunga… listen to Tulikaka’s stories. She went from the mad verse of Aavilirundu Akkvarai to the peculiar sounds of Gasa Gasa Para Para’s ‘jnya-jnyaa-jnyi-jnyii’ to the great merriment of children and adults present at the Madras Terrace House. It didn’t matter even if you didn’t understand all of it… fun and laughter go beyond words.

She told the stories through the frame story of her popular Malli, capturing the flavour of place and tongue with her warmly amusing imitations. Once past her own books, she then went on to Cathy Spagnoli’s classic Priyavin Oru Naal, giving it full sound and tune with old Tamil film melodies, and Muthu’s story of the magic vessels… and lots more, each rendered in a special and different Tamil accent, all spoken and heard on the streets of Namma Chennai. Kamaal Hassan, you got competition machi!

Jeeva has a fresh, new approach to Tamil and she is completely convinced that when children read, they must connect. So, not for her the tongue-twisting chasteness of high literature (beautiful though it is, she always says; she loves her mozhi, she always says). Her tongue twisters leave the reader gasping for more.

But there are always naysayers and recently we went on a critical appraisal of Tamil for children’s books. As always, we went to our friend, philosopher and guide, Cre-A Ramakrishnan. His considered opinion: there are some things that are sacrosanct, but the effort must be to bridge the gap between the spoken and the written. Go on, he said, you’re heading the right way.

So, adjust the mindset light-a for a wonderful journey through Jeeva’s stories, written and told. Piragu you will understand what I mean… Semma Tamil, Namma Tamil!

- Sandhya Rao, Author and Editor