Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
A brand-new award show celebrates authors and illustrators of children’s literature
MUMBAI: The adventures of a happy street dog whose life suddenly turns upside down. A music-loving buffalo who is kidnapped and keeps local cops on their toes. An unlikely friendship forged amidst conflict in Manipur. These were just some of the engaging narratives and imaginative illustrations that were felicitated at the first ever Binod Kanoria Awards for Children’s Literature on November 12 at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai.
Based on the philosophy that children’s literature is a unique space in the literary world that deserves to be honoured, the awards also serve the important function of celebrating the work of Indian authors and illustrators. As Nirbhay Kanoria, who set up the awards in the memory of his industrialist grandfather “who was a great storyteller”, said in his speech, “Indian authors and illustrators create fantastic books for children but are sorely lacking in recognition as compared to their western counterparts. This is a grave injustice to their talent. Awards cannot fix all the issues but they are the first step we want to take.”
Awards administrator Lubaina Bandukwala hosted the event and introduced all the winners, among them writers Sushil Shukla, Mandira Shah and writer-illustrators Priya Kuriyan and Rajiv Eipe. The winners were felicitated with cash prizes, citations and medals amidst much applause and cheering by children and parents at the Tata Literature Live! festival.
Bhopal-based Shukla’s book Ye Sara Ujala Suraj Ka, published by Eklavya Foundation, won the award for Hindi Early Readers 2021-22. Three other books of his – Machhali Nadi Khol Ke Baithi, Feriwale, and Aam Ke Sukhe Pad
Par – were also on the shortlist, along with Kavita Singh Kale’s book Amma. The Hindi jury was made up of poet Arun Kamal, educationist Sonika Kaushik and teacher Kamlesh Joshi.
Shukla, who could not make it to Mumbai for the award ceremony, told HT in a phone interview that he firmly believed that children’s literature could not be isolated from the contemporary political scenario. “I have made an attempt to convey that we all draw sustenance from the sun,” he said. “We feel sad when someone is hurting. We rejoice in their happiness. We are connected to each other.”
Kuriyan’s book Beauty Is Missing and Eipe’s book Dugga – both published by Pratham Books – were joint winners of the Award for Illustrations 2021-22. They were chosen by a jury comprising artist Indrapramit Roy, animator Shilpa Ranade, and the aforementioned Shukla who also edits children’s magazines.
Beauty Is Missing, which was developed with funding from the Humane Society International, revolves around the frantic search for a music-loving buffalo who is kidnapped. While receiving the award, Kuriyan said, “During the Covid-19 pandemic, I was in Kerala for a long time. Much of it was spent in a village with paddy fields and eccentric characters who found their way into the book. I drew inspiration from two endearing news reports about police officers trying to find missing buffaloes and reunite them with their human caretakers.”
Kuriyan travelled from Bengaluru to receive the award but Eipe, who is also Bangalorebased, could not be there in person due to prior commitments. On a video message that was played during the award ceremony, he said, “Dugga is the story of a street dog in a busy city in India, her adventures, an unfortunate accident she meets with, and her subsequent path to recovery with the help of a kind human being.” Eipe wrote the book to honour the quiet, unsung work of individuals and non-profit organisations that take care of street animals.
Another book illustrated by Eipe – The Monster Who Could Not Climb A Tree – was also shortlisted for the awards. The other illustrators on the shortlist were Pankaj Saikia for The Theatre of Ghosts, Sanket Pethkar for Aai and I and Lavanya Karthik for The Girl Who Loved to Sing.
Kuriyan also took home the Award for English Early Readers 2021-22 for the book Beauty Is Missing. The other contenders on this particular shortlist were Samina Mishra for Nida Finds A Way, Menaka Raman for Topi Rockets from Thumba, Vibha Batra for Pinkoo Shergill Pastry Chef, Lavanya Karthik for The Girl Who Was A Forest, and Tanya Majumdar for The Monster Who Could Not Climb A Tree.
Bengaluru-based Shah’s book
Children Of The Hidden Land, published by Speaking Tiger, won the Award for English Middle-Grade Readers 2021-22. Set in Manipur, it explores how friendship is forged across conflicting identities when people examine their assumptions about each other and overcome their prejudices.
The other authors shortlisted for this category were Anupam Arunachalam for Young Pandavas, Bijal Vachharajani for Savi And The Memory Keeper, Amit Majmudar for Heroes The Colour of Dust, Aditi Krishnakumar for That Year At Manikoil and Likla Lall as well as Kripa Bhatia for Somnath Hore: Wounds. There was a common jury for the two awards for books in English made up of author-editor Anushka Ravishankar, author-editor Anita Roy and Dalbir Kaur Madan who is a library and reading specialist. Each award category was allotted a cash prize of ₹50,000.