The bookmaker and her dream: Tulika’s founder on building a publishing house rooted in a love for children

Tulika turns 30: Tracing the children's publishing house's journey

Radhika Menon can never forget the moment she held the first Tulika book in 1996. “It was a great feeling,” she recalls, adding: “It was literally hot off the press because we were at the printing press in Kilpauk.” In its previous avatar, Tulika was a prepress services unit in Delhi, doing work for other publishers and organisations. “Somewhere in our mind, we knew that we would one day publish our own books,” she says.

Their first office was near the Music College atop a screen-printing unit and with a small team of three, Radhika started the publishing house that would go on to bring out children’s books in nine languages. For Radhika, who has had experience in teaching in Chennai and Delhi, getting into publishing “was a natural coming together of my interests and experiences”.

A view of Tulika’s store at TTK Road, in Chennai | Photo Credit: RAVINDRAN R

Their first book, Line and Circle was a bilingual, a format that was not accepted in the Indian market back then, especially schools. “They were not used to having another language in the same book,” she recalls. But to her and her team, it was a natural way to introduce children to reading. While they struggled to sell it in India, they sold rights for over 20 languages in the first year.

“But we never lacked confidence; we were convinced that these books were needed,” she says. After a lot of struggle — during which they brought out theme-based diaries to keep themselves afloat — Radhika recalls the market opening up from 2010. They have so far published around 450 titles in English; with over 3,000 inclusive of eight other languages, working with 176 authors, 150 illustrators and 120 translators.

Tulika Store at TTK Road | Photo Credit: RAVINDRAN R