Winning hearts and awards

At the just concluded The Hindu Lit for Life festival held in Chennai, four children’s authors walked away with prizes. Read on, to find out more.

January 28, 2016 12:56 pm | Updated September 23, 2016 11:11 pm IST

CHENNAI, 15/01/2016: The Hindu Young World Goodbook Awardies From left, Sujatha Padmanabhan, Prabha Mallya, Venita Coelho and Vishakka Chanchani at the Lit For Life Festival. Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI, 15/01/2016: The Hindu Young World Goodbook Awardies From left, Sujatha Padmanabhan, Prabha Mallya, Venita Coelho and Vishakka Chanchani at the Lit For Life Festival. Photo: R. Ragu

The sixth edition of The Hindu Lit for Life 2016 saw something new. Prizes were introduced for best authors of children’s book. Joining hands with Young World , was Goodbooks, a website that provides space for children’s literature. The Hindu Young World Goodbooks was instituted to promote excellence in children’s writing and illustration in India and is the first to recognise different genres. The jury comprised Usha Mukunda, Sujata Noronha, Amruta Patil, Aashti Mudnani, Manjula Padmanabhan, Jai Arjun Singh and Anil Menon. Shailaja Menon, Sadanand Menon and Vivek Menezes were a part of the jury that selected the Best Book in the Non-Fiction category.

The awards were under four categories. Best Picture Book-Story, Best Picture Book-Illustrations, Best Book-Fiction and Best Book-Non-Fiction. Each award carried a cash prize of Rs. 50,000, a trophy and a citation. 

BEST PICTURE BOOK – STORY

Sujatha Padmanabhan won the award for BUMBOO... The Donkey Who Would Not Budge (Published by Eklavya, 2015) This is an endearing story of a little donkey living with a loving family high in the mountains of Ladakh. “In 2005 we went on a trek and we hired two donkeys. Padma, the lady who came with the donkey she told us how her donkey would not move after dusk. We were miles away from any village and we tried different ways to make him move. I stuck to that as the central premise while writing this story.” Sujatha Padmanabhan has worked with children with special needs for some years. She is also drawn to the mountains of Ladakh. She brings her empathy for her two passions to fruition in this delightful story.

BEST PICTURE BOOK – ILLUSTRATIONS

Prabha Mallya won the award for The Alphabet of Animals and Birds (Published by Red Turtle, 2014). This is an illustrated collection of animal and bird collective nouns, for children. “Animals, birds and books have always fascinated me. I was always keen to work on an animal and bird picture book of my own sometime. I discussed a few different ideas with my editor at Red Turtle/ Rupa. The collective nouns idea stuck, and wouldn’t go away. It feels a lot like how they’ve stuck around in the English language so far despite having no real practical reason to be around. They’re so much fun that people just enjoy using them..

Honourable mention:THE FIFTH LANE by Madhuri Purandare, published by Jyotsna Prakashan, 2015

BEST BOOK –FICTION

Venita Coelho won the award for Dead as a Dodo ( Published by Hachette, 2015).A smart, witty, fast-paced novel about saving the earth and its animals from the reckless greed of human beings. The three principal characters are Bagha, Kela and Rana — a tiger, a langur and a human boy. They are agents of the Animal Intelligence Agency, an NGO whose mission is to save the planet by combining the forces of creatures big and small.

Venita draws her inspiration from the animals in her life. A wish list made with her daughter prompted her to write her first book Tiger by the Tale . While doing her research on tigers she discovered all about the sixth Holocene and how humans are responsible for this extinction.

Honourable mention:MANAN by Mohit Parikh (Published by Harper Collins, 2014)

BEST BOOK –NON-FICTION

Vishakha Chanchani won the award for The House That Sonabai Built (Published by Tulika, 2014). It tells the story about a remarkable woman who was confined to her house in a village in Chattisgarh. Chancing upon clay, Sonabai began experimenting with it to create toys for her little son. This simple quest turned into a life-giving force in this lonely woman’s life, as figurines, creepers and lattices sprung from her nimble fingers to adorn every nook and corner of her home.

Honourable mention:GENDER TALK: BIG HERO, SIZE ZERO by Anusha Hariharan and Sowmya Rajendran (Published By Tulika, 2015)

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