Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Children’s literature comes of age

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala is considered to be one of the most developed centres of book publishing in the country. But the State’s track record in publication of books for children is dismal, despite it being the largest single market for children’s books in the country. Children’s books have been mostly of poor quality in terms of content, design and production parameters. Children’s bookscape in Kerala could well be in for a wholesome change with the Kerala State Institute of Children’s Literature bringing out 25 high quality titles at one go.

The State Institute of Children’s Literature has teamed up with Tulika Publishers to bring out titles which have been written, illustrated and designed by authors, artists and designers who have made a mark at the national level in their respective areas of expertise. The books have been produced with care to ensure that they are child-friendly and sensitive to gender, race and caste dimensions.

“Our aim is to set a new benchmark for children’s books in Malayalam and prompt private publishers also to adopt the same benchmark in matters such as quality of content, design and production and the price,” says Rubin D’Cruz, director of the State Institute of Children’s Literature. He hopes that once the books published by the Institute hit the market, the private publishers would be forced to go in for similar production values and pricing.

The titles being brought out by the Institute are priced quite low with the objective of generating high volumes making quality books available to children at affordable prices.

The Institute has had to cut through red tape and procedural tangles to achieve this. Experience has shown that the practice of publishing poor quality books that carry unaffordable cover prices that remain unsold in the godowns of the Institute cannot go on, Mr. D’Cruz says and adds that the entire Children’s Institute team is working overtime to make a difference to children’s book publishing.

For the Institute, it is a quantum jump from two colours to multi-colour printing and a genuine effort to cash in on the advantage that the Institute already has in content generation.

Besides the 25 Tulika titles, the Institute would bring out 10 original titles in Malayalam and the authors include poet Sachidanandan and Achyuth Sankar Nair.

The Institute is also at work on quite a few larger volumes for children, notably K.N. Panikkar’s ‘India Charithram Kuttikalkk’, N.V.P. Unithiri’s ‘Valmiki Ramayanam Gadyam Kuttikalkk’ and Baiju Chandran’s ‘Keralathinte Kazhinja 50 Varshangal.’ Ten other volumes forming part of the series titled ‘Keralathitne Navoddhana Silpikal’ would come out in December.

The Institute’s plan is to take the books, being prepared in accordance with the Government programme for publication of books that would complement the revised school syllabi, to the children by organising book exhibitions in schools, Mr. D’Cruz says.

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