Writing tips from Madhuri Purandhare, winner of the recent Big Little book award(2016)

She is an author, illustrator and a translator. Winner of Sahitya Akademi award(2014) and the recent Big  Little award award(2016), Ms Madhuri Purandhare,  shared some of her thoughts about writing for children. Since we didn’t want to waste the author’s precious time and duplicate any work which had already been done, we are sharing excerpts from Ms Purandhare’s two recent interviews and Sahitya Akademi speech.

Excerpt 1 ---

From Ms. Purandare's speech while accepting the Sahitya Akademi award:

All of you have been writing for children with integrity and persistence. I don't have anything new or extraordinary to tell you. I have made some rules for myself when writing for children; I am going to try telling you something about these.

- Whether it is writing, illustrating, or doing something else, anything for children must be done with care, seriousness as well as with joy. I must always be mindful that instead of doing something for children with just a sense of responsibility, or duty, or out of a sense of charity that by expending my time and efforts for children despite being an adult is something extraordinary, it is better not to do it at all.

- I have long realized that it is no longer possible for me to create something as impromptu, free and refreshing as children can. I should not forget that I ought to create something for children, but in my own way.

- I should never take children for granted by saying 'Oh, what do they know!'

- Although I am creating something for children, I should not make the mistake of leaving adults out of it. By this, I mean: whatever I create for children should have the capacity to attract and to involve adults as well. If I can achieve this, then it presents them with an opportunity and a good way to gain entry into the world of children.

- As a famous author has said: Every time a child says, 'I don't believe in fairies,' there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead. Don't you think this is unfortunate? I must keep seeking how to tell fairy tales to children in today's world whose childhood meets an early end.

- I cannot bring those values to my work that I do not believe in myself. When I create for children, I should at least not be dishonest with myself.

- A newspaper gets delivered to me every morning. A lot of my energy goes towards getting myself out of the depressed state that reading a newspaper leaves me in, and getting hold of enough energy to face the day. And yet, I should not lose faith in something – that the world is a beautiful place and that life is worth living.

--- Excerpt 2 ---

If you had a piece of advice for aspiring authors, what would it be?

Before giving advice to others, this is what I advise myself all the time:

·   If my attitude is – “What do kids know? If it’s for children, then anything goes” – then it’s better to just stay away from this field. 

·   Writing for children requires a lot of hard work and time. I should enter this field only if I understand this and if I am prepared to invest that much in my work.

·   I should feel love, respect and a sense of responsibility for the language in which I am going to write.

·   Children’s literature cannot exist without ample use of visuals, so I should have a feel for and some knowledge about the visual arts.

·   There is no shortcut to reading widely and profusely.

·   I should not forget that even adults should feel like reading literature meant for children.

·   In short, I should be ready to give everything that would be required of me if I were writing for adults, except in a much better way, and consistently so. For my own writing, I should use the same criteria that I use when evaluating quality adult literature.

--- Excerpt 3 ---

In a fundamental sense, would you say there is any difference between writing for adults and writing for children?

Some things ought to be common to both kinds of writing - the urge and the need to express oneself (and not to preach), willingness for hard work, a sense of responsibility and a commitment to give the best to the readers. The difference, if there is one, is that children’s writers need to be acutely aware of these things, because in the absence of them, a child cannot take them to task.

Given your experience in the field of writing for children, what would you say the future for practitioners is like? Do you think there are enough practitioners today, and enough publishers? What are the main problems you see and encounter in this field?

Compared to the population of our country, the number of writers, illustrators and publishers is abysmally low. And the number of people whose subsistence depends only on children’s literature is even smaller. There is an absence of an effective distribution system that can take books to semi-rural and rural children. Even in metros, books are not always easily available. Even more crucially, the education system relegates children’s literature to supplementary reading. The importance of literature to the development of children’s thought process, their linguistic abilities, their personality etc. is not recognized even today. As a result, even parents pay scant respect to it. No one demands that a certain level of quality be maintained when it comes to children’s literature. No one feels the need to train writers or illustrators. Criticism of children’s literature is virtually non-existent, so it becomes difficult for parents and teachers to figure out how to sift the good from the bad. I can go on...

  

 (A big thank you to Mr. Abhijeet Ranadive who facilitated this piece)

 To know more about Ms Madhuri Purandhare and her books click here.

To read Ms Madhuri Purandhare’s  interview taken by Parag initiative click here.

Read her interview in Indian Express (18 Dec 2016) - Tell Me the story of a Moustache

 PS:  Ms Madhuri Purandhare is not active on social media. Neither does she have an email id nor a mobile phone. Any specific query for the author can be mailed to her publisher at info@jyotsanaprakashan.com with  "Query for  Ms Madhuri Purandhare" in the subject line.