Behind children forever
She is one of India’s most celebrated authors and her witty and jubilant tales are internationally acclaimed. Her works have been widely translated to almost ten different languages. Anushka Ravishankar, who has written twelve books for Tara including a series of books Elephants Never Forget, Tiger on a Tree and Catch that Crocodile, is now working on yet another fantastic picture book for kids and the fourth one of her Scholastic series on Zian and Ana.
Anushka confesses that her only source of inspiration is interacting with children. “I love kids and wherever I go I not only observe them but can’t really resist talking to them. And my love grew when my daughter was born, now she is 25,” says this author, with a sale of more than three lakh copies worldwide.
But what made her dive into writing children’s books? “Around the 1990’s when I decided to write, there were not too many Indian English books for children. So I thought it would be a nice way to bring cheerful smiles coupled with interesting learning for kids,” she quips.
In 2012, Anushka founded the Indian children’s publishing house Duckbill in collaboration with Sayoni Basu and Westland Books. Talking about the reading habits of children, she responds in an affirmative note. “The world has changed a lot since when I was a child and it is wrong to expect it to be the same. Back in those days, there were not enough choices. So children at home had no other option but to read. Today there are iPads and the television — why shouldn’t children be allowed to enjoy all options? Children do read. Just that the time spent might have reduced or they read only what they want to read,” she says.
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