Welcome to Tulika's archives — a library of ideas and reflections on writing for children and their reading in general, compiled in articles or in papers presented at various forums. If you would like to give feedback on these, comment on the books or share some thoughts, please write to us at tulikabooks@vsnl.com
Sharing Spaces: thoughts on translating for Children
To translate it's not enough to simply render a story or piece of writing from one language into another. You must love language, be moved by ideas and tell it like it matters, so children find themselves in all kinds of books from all kinds of cultures...
If we ask ourselves 'Why translate for children?', the answer must be, 'For the same reasons that we translate Seamus Heaney or Arundhati Roy or Garbriel Garcia Marquez or Munshi Premchand': to reach great writing to the world and to be moved, inspired and motivated by the experiences such writing evokes; to dissipate the barriers of language and shred fears of the unknown; to share the spaces created by the wonder of telling, reading, writing; and eventually, without our being aware of it, becoming part of a common collective human consciousness.
Invent As You Play: Learning how to translate for children
Learning on the job – writing, translating, editing, publishing – made us rethink cast iron theories and find creative approaches to tackle the little and big challenges of translating for children...
In the abstract that I sent over to Dr Seetha Srinivasan, the title of this presentation has been put down as 'Invent as you play: Translating for children'. Then of course, as usual, there were second thoughts. What if they get the wrong impression, 'invent' is not really what it is it and so on.
Meeting Chiedza Musengezi
A conversation about children's books, language and identity with the well-known Zimbabwean writer reveals shared problems and strengths...1999
The first time was at the Book Cafe, the pulsating centre of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair in Harare, '99. It was the launch by Heinemann and Baobab of Opening Spaces, an anthology of contemporary African women's writing.
Once upon a time
Despite the profusion of books – Indian and foreign – in bookshops, for some children, reading doesn’t go beyond the school’s prescribed reader? Shouldn’t we do something about it? One way is to encourage access to literature that belongs to them.
At a story-reading workshop in a private school in the city recently, 11- and 12 year-olds were read a story. Then, during a discussion with the children, they were asked what books they read, who their favourite authors were and so on.
In my own voice: Who Needs Words?
Names originating in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, are increasingly being seen on covers of books published in the US and UK as well. Obviously, something is happening . . . An overview of children's literature in South Asia...1998
At work the other day, we were putting together an advertisement for our books. Lakshmi, our Girl Friday, took one look at it and said; "Oh, we are going to receive many manuscripts in response to this ad!"
Children's Book Publishing: Sharing Ideas and Experiences
What sort of books should be written for children? Are they reading enough? And the right books? Are the books themselves 'alright'? How much should they cost? So much has been analysed and discussed that quite often the wood is missed for the trees...1998
"Unknown words don’t stop the child. But a boring story will.” So said Isaac Bashevis Singer, and hit spot-on the epicenter of the debate on children’s literature.
