Stepping up for Special children: Sayoni Basu talks about Duckbill's new initiative -Children First Competition

(This interview is a piece from the November, 2016 issue of Kahani Takbak, a newsletter written by authors for children authors. To subscribe to the newsletter click here )

1.What has prompted Duckbill to start this initiative now? Does the excellent performance by our sport stars in the recent Para Olympics have anything to do with it?

At Duckbill, we believe in doing fun books which kids will want to read for pleasure, but we also like it if these books talk about dilemmas or problems that kids face. We believe that literature is one of the primary means through which we learn empathy and how to deal with the challenges that the world holds. So we have books where the themes, for example, of single parenthood, class, sexuality, bullying etc are also present. So, kids with special needs or problems was something else we are interested in.

We published two books which feature protagonists with special needs--Zainab Sulaiman's Simply Nanju--or some kind of physical problem--Aarti Sonthalia's Big Bully and M-me, and we were much struck about how unusual this seemed to be in Indian children's books, especially for slightly older kids.

We also have a new book which we are currently working on by a young author about a girl in a wheelchair. We are very excited about this as it is a wonderful and new voice, and the story is striking.

And when Anushka(Co-founder, Duckbill Books) was talking to the Vidya Sagar School and Parag, an initiative by the Tata Trusts, it all seemed to come together. 

The excellent performances at the Para Olympics were not really a motivating factor. Though in one of our recent books, Invisible People by Harsh Mandar, he does talk about a young girl who excelled in an earlier Para Olympic. But in a sense, we prefer stories of quieter victories--because those are somehow closer to the lives of the readers.

2. At a time when parents don’t encourage their kids to play or even interact with special kids, do you think they will buy these books? 

Our goal has always been to publish books which are interesting, inspiring and good to read. So we believe readers will come over time. We believe the availability of such books and kids reading them, will change their attitudes and make them change their parents. Kids can be powerful agents of change.

3. An author can walk for miles and yet not find special kids in the vicinity for they are either isolated or hidden from the mainstream society. While writing stories for this contest, do you think authors will play it safe and stick to medical conditions the children can easily relate to? 

We really don't know what to expect. We are hoping that this might inspire people who do not usually write for kids to try to write because they feel passionately about the subject. 

4. Are children in India are ready for books like Wonder By R.J. Palacio which handles facial deformity and “Fault in our stars” by John Green which deals with thyroid cancer and Osteosarcoma? 

Yes. The kids are ready. The parents and teachers may not be!

5. Is Children First going to be one time event? Or will it continue focusing on a different theme every year? 

We do hope to continue it. It will however depend partly on the response to the first one.

6. Any tips for authors who will be submitting manuscripts for Children first competition?

We like stories which have good plots, strong characters and we have a strong partiality towards humour. We believe that it is important in children's books that the protagonist is a child and that the story is told from the child's point of view.

7. Is the competition open to nonfiction books? There is no mention about it in the contest details. 

This particular one is not. We will clarify that in the announcement--thank you for pointing this out.

8. Duckbill books is starting a new trend in India by providing citations and detailed feedback for prize winners of the 'Children first’ contest. It is a rare gesture from a publisher and a win-win situation for authors who value feedback from editors.  

Thank you! We believe feedback is an important part of the writing process, and it is often a stumbling block for new writers. So we are very happy to work with authors on this.

9. While a few pictorial books have been published in India to address inclusion, so far there have hardly been any books in the middle grade and young adult category. Could it be lack of awareness among the authors about the prevalent medical conditions among children or are the publishers deeming these books as ‘high risk’ and avoiding them all together? 

In our experience, relatively few people write about inclusion, especially in the chapter book or middle grade age range. Also, this is clearly a subject which requires some amount of research to write on, and is quite emotionally charged, so it could be quite a challenging subject to write on. This might explain why there are relatively few books.

10. Can you suggest any chapter books for the authors to read before they start writing for the Children First competition?

Among Indian books

Simply Nanju by Zainab Sulaiman

Big Bully and M-me by Arti Sonthalia

Chuskit Goes to School by Sujatha Padmanabhan

Little Vinayak by Shobha Vishwanath

Why Are You Afraid to Hold My Hand by Sheela Dhir

Kanna Panna by Zai Whitekar

There are many fabulous titles internationally. You can see a list at check out the list on Goodreads

To know more details about the Children First Competition click here. 

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to the Kahani Takbak newsletter  at  www.kahanitakbak.com

To know more about Duckbill Books visit 

www.duckbill.in

theduckbillblog.wordpress.com

facebook.com/DuckbillBooks