Tamil poet for little children: Kuzha Kathiresan
This ©article was created exclusively for the November 2016 issue of Kahani Takbak, a newsletter for children authors in India.)
Poet of little children: Kuzha Kathiresan, Bala Sahitya Puraskar winner 2016
Poet of little children: Kuzha Kathiresan, Bala Sahitya Puraskar winner 2016
He
passes off as a bureaucrat with his quiet demeanor and gentle voice. It is only when he settles down in his office surrounded by bookshelves that
he shows his real talent by reciting poems close to his heart. Kuzha
Kathiresan, winner of Bala Sahitya Academi award (2016) for total contribution
to children’s literature is a rare gem in the world of children’s poetry.
His adventure with poetry started in his late
teens while he was pursuing his graduation in tamil literature. He began his career as a manager for a
publishing house learning all aspects of publishing. He also started taking poetry seriously and
participated in poetry forums. It was at one such poetry forum that he met late
tamil poet, Mr. Azha Valiappa, the doyen
of tamil children’s literature, who not only encouraged him to write poetry for
children but also taught the fine nuances of composing verses.
After a decade of composing poems, Mr.
Kathiresan quit his job and started his own publishing house, Ainthinai
Patthippagam, publishing books for himself and popular Tamil writers like Janakiraman, Jeykanthan, Pudhumai Pithan
among many others.
Believing publicity plays an important role in
poets and their composition, Mr. Kathiresan started promoting his poems through
the catalogue he created for his company’s books. Since his rhyming poems were
easy to read and recall, he was flooded with book orders in no time. His first
collection of poems, “Elli Kaditha Poonai( the cat which bit the rat) won him
his first accolade and set the ball rolling.
His reasonably priced books appealed to parents and schools prompting
them to include his poetry books as a supplementary reader.
Learning
through fun has always been his objective. “Inikkum Ariviyal” is a unique
science based poetry book penned by him.
Mr. Kathiresan has so far written over 6000 social and children poems on
family, nature and situations children deal in their everyday lives. His poems
have been translated into several regional languages and made their way into
academic textbooks.
His
recent projects include three books to demystify the Tamil Sanga literature for
the common man. His contribution to
children’s literature has been the subject of many MPhil and Ph.D studies.
“Poets
should create poems from a child's perspective. A child's face should be
visible in poems. Too many people write verses for adults and pass them off as
children’s poems.” He advises budding poets to keep three things in mind while
writing for children-write about things tender minds can relate to, verses
should be easy to read and every verse should be engaging and humorous.
A
recipient of several awards from the state government for his poems, Mr.
Kathiresan believes a lot more can be done to promote children's poetry.
“Schools must teach poetry. Contributions of contemporary poets should feature
in school textbooks. The government should use the official media to air
programs based on children’s poetry. Like film songs, good children poems must
be set to tune, recorded and promoted through television and radio regularly.”
The immense popularity of his books, Mallai
Karumbu, Mallai Pookal and Mallai Aarambhu, prompted Mr. Kathiresan to promote
his poems through music with the best talent available in the Tamil music
industry. He produced three cassettes
which were sold out within months of release.
Mr. Kathiresan lives in Chennai and runs the publishing house with the
help of his wife. Dwindling profits due
to nationalization of books and the rise of digital media challenge him. Yet,
he devotes his time writing more poems, churning out new books through Ainthini
Patthipakkam and dreams of promoting his works by reaching out to a larger
audience through the internet.
PS:
Poet of Little children is a title bestowed upon Mr. Kathiresan by the poets of
Tamil Nadu.
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Book marketing tip from Mr. Kathiresan:
Target school chains to get your books included in the school curriculum.
It is this tip which has ensured Mr. Kathiresan gets a minimum book order
of 1000 copies per school chain every year.
Kahani Takbak tip: The above tip can be
applied to include author interactions.
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