Karnataka - Bangalore   

Spreading joy among children

— Photo:V. Sreenivasa Murthy

(From left) Writer Vijayalakshmi, Chairperson of Pratham Books Rohini Nilekani, Managing Trustee Suzanne Singh and translator Jayaraman at the Pratham Books Sabha 2011 in Bangalore on Saturday.

Bangalore: At the first literary meet organised by Pratham Books here on Saturday, an attempt was made to explore the challenges in publishing children's books, and particularly on the need to reach out to children with multi-lingual content.

Titled ‘Sabha 2011', the meet had several authors, illustrators, translators and partners who work with Pratham Books, a publishing house that prepares reading content for children ranging from models, story cards to books.

Speaking at the event, Chairperson of Pratham Books Rohini Nilekani, said: “This meet is one more step towards nurturing the ecosystem for better children's books. There are 350 million children in India, and when we believe so strongly that books provide joy, we must all put our collective strength to spread this joy to every child.”

Open content policy

In the panel discussion that followed, panellists discussed how book publishers can reach out to children, and how to get them to read. The conference also addressed open content policy.

On their commitment to developing open content, Suzanne Singh, Managing Trustee of Pratham, said: “In a country with so many children in need of reading material, we need quick, clean, legal, and harmonious ways of developing content. In our effort to share content and be more inclusive, we have adopted the Creative Commons framework widely, and we have begun to see success with this.” Over 80 stories and illustrations are available under an open license model.

Pratham's books have been adapted by our community into a range of new creations – from audio and Braille books for the print-impaired, to iPad and iPhone applications. “We are very excited about the possibilities an open content policy allows whether in building inclusion or scale,” she added.

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