Bye Bye Blyton

Time was when children’s books by Indian authors would be preachy, condescending and badly produced. Not any more, DNA finds that Indian authors and publishers are at long last coming out with books that combine innovative Indian content and international appeal.

Oh ye, readers of old, who looked no further than Enid Blytons and Nancy Drews for literary sustenance, eat your heart out. The new generation of children have those and much more. For in the past decade, more and more books by Indian authors are finding their way to prominence in book stores, libraries and imaginations of readers. What’s more, these are books with innovative content and high production standards.

In essence, we are at the threshold of a new era in children’s publishing — one in which we are finally evolving our very own contemporary literature for kids. Says Anita Roy, editorial head, Young Zubaan, “Children in India are growing up in a fast-changing world, and are exposed to a vast range of different media. Indian authors are responding by writing new, exciting and imaginative narratives in contemporary idioms to capture the interest and imaginations of their audience.”

When popular children’s author Paro Anand wrote her first book, she spent weeks just visiting one publisher after another in Delhi, the hub of the Indian publishing industry. In 2009, best-selling author Anshumani Rudra’s The Enemy Of My Enemy, an interactive sci-fi book, evolved out of a conversation the author had with a publisher who was already looking to try out new kinds of writing for children — undoubtedly a sign of the times.

It’s different
The scene has changed quite a lot from the earlier era where, except for a Ruskin Bond or an RK Narayan, Indian books for children mostly meant the telling and retelling of folk and mythological tales. Today, the growth is evident from the vast array of genres that kids can pick from.

For example, children can choose from wildlife adventures stories by Ranjit Lal, to sci-fi mysteries, detective stories, folk tales, and so on. And finally, the angst of growing up doesn’t only belong to the Americans — move over Judy Blume and Meg Cabot, we prefer to explore our own issues in Anand’s Wingless or I Am Not Butter Chicken!

Secondly, there is a new emphasis on quality in production and innovative presentation. Says Roy, “Parents are also very aware of the high quality of the imported books that sit beside Indian books on the bookstore shelves, and are demanding an equal level of care and attention for our own books.” Agrees parent Zainab Tambawalla, “If you are competing against books and authors that have been read for so long, like Blyton, you better be good.” So gone are the days when Indian books meant cheap paper, poor illustrations and copy full of typos. Even NGOs like Pratham and Eklavya who try to keep costs low have raised the bar for production valves several notches.

And finally, though the books are Indian in content, origin and authorship, their appeal is international. Says Sandhya Rao, editor at Tulika “We are proud to say that we’ve published some of the best authors/illustrators anywhere in the world.” Most independent publishers have made successful, albeit small, forays in the international market. Tulika’s What Shall I Make and My Mother’s Sari found markets in North America and UK, with My Mother’s Sari being available in bilingual editions in the UK (in such languages as Spanish, French, Farsi, Arabic and Urdu). Scholastic’s Grasshopper’s Run by Siddhartha Sarma has been recently licensed to Bloomsbury in the UK. And Pratham’s books can be found in Kenya , Pakistan , UK and USA. Says Rao, “The international market is still obsessed a little with ‘exotic’ India. However, this is changing, and the US and Canada markets are slowly opening up to all kinds of children’s writing from India.”

Riding into a new era
The new wave has come on the wings of talented people who themselves felt the need for good children’s books. Says Rao “We’ve always been excited by all the wonderful children’s books that our children had grown up on. But most of them were from the West, and we had always talked about this with some regret. Gradually, we began to feel we should do something about creating great books that were ‘ours’.” Soon, the more dynamic publishers began to see the gap on our bookshelves. As Anita Roy of Young Zubaan says, “India is a very young country, with a children population greater than the US’s entire population. Yet very few children’s publishers are producing Indian-authored books.”

Trouble in paradise
“Glorious” is how Scholastic India’s Sayoni Basu describes the future of children’s publishing in India. But as Mishra says, “We still have a long way to go.” For one, most innovative publishers feel that given India’s rich graphic talent, illustrators and illustrations do not get their due. Largely because this pushes prices up and parents are unwilling to pay much for books.
Secondly, it’s not that easy to find these titles in bookshops. Publishers like Scholastic, Puffin and Young Zubaan (distributed by Penguin) have good visibility, but others are not so easily found. “You can only find a Tulika or Tara if you are aware of them and know where to look, you’ll seldom find them in the regular bookstore,” says Tambawala.

“The volume of imported books is much larger than those by Indian authors,” says Vatsala Bisen, buyer of children’s books for Crossword. “We replenish Tara and Tulika once in 6 months, but the foreign authors move very fast — probably because children are more aware of them, thanks to all the publicity and marketing,” she says.

Parents do ask for Indian authored books but these continue to be in the realm of “traditional” Indian fare. But the high-volume, large-format stores are not always the best showcase for a nascent genre. As most publishers agree, children’s books need more innovative marketing. Publishers like Scholastic are doing this through school fairs and book clubs; others use the internet. But the distribution system has a long way to go before the books in all their variety get to the reader.