‘My hope for 2025 is that children’s books will be taken seriously’

Shailaja Menon discusses the disconnect between literacy and literature at The Hindu Lit For Life event.

We have not done a good job of linking literacy and literature, said Shailaja Menon, author, at The Hindu Lit For Life-Tales and Talks event held here on Sunday.

At a panel discussion on ‘Children’s Books: An Indian Story’ at the British Council Library, she said: “We grew up hearing stories. We grew up in cultures immersed in literature. We did this literature immersion at home or cultural spaces, and school was a space where we learnt the script. So, literacy was the task of schools and literature was the task of the community; however, that era has passed. The reality is that children spend most of their time in schools these days. They are no longer immersed in a culture of literature.”

Discussing the book, Children’s Books: An Indian Story, edited by Ms. Shailaja and journalist-writer Sandhya Rao, the latter said: “In the last 30 years, lots of children’s books have been published in India. When there was a lull, some independent publishers wanted to do something about it, and a lot of that initiative came from Chennai. So, we thought it was a good time to take stock of what’s happening and critically look at how this area has grown. We found that the industry has grown by leaps and bounds.”

Radhika Menon, founder of Tulika Books, who is also a contributor to the book, said: “During that time, there was a need to publish a wider range of books for children, with a focus on illustrations.”

Amrita Patwardhan, education head at Tata Trusts, moderated the session. “My hope for 2025 is that children’s books will be taken seriously, because through them, we lay the foundation for our children and their reading habits,” Ms. Sandhya said.

The Hindu Lit for Life event is presented by KIA India in Association with Christ University. The associate partners are RR Donnelley, Blue Star, NITTE Deemed to be University, Singer, Uttarakhand Tourism, and Vajiram & Ravi. The Bookstore partner is Crossword and water partner is Repute. To register for the event, visit https://newsth.live/LFL2025ED or scan the QR code.