shyamala's world

  Author Vibha Batra is out with a bold, new graphic novel for teens.   P ublished by Harper Collins India, the book doesn't shy away from addressing the pain and angst of today's metro teens. From fat shaming, divorce, remarriage, bullying to LGBT issues, The Secret Life of Debbie G covers it all. Illustrator Kalyani Ganapathy has successfully captured the moods of the different characters with her black and white illustrations. 1.Why did you choose to approach this book as a graphic novel? I didn’t! It all started when my editor asked me if I’d write a graphic novel for them. And I replied, ‘Yes! Sure! Of course!’ with the confidence of someone who’s never written a graphic novel before. And then, I dived headlong into the world of comic books and graphic novels. Devouring them in the name of ‘research’, of course. At some point I realised, I had to stop binge-reading and start writing. So I did.  2.What kind of research went into creating this book? You have got ...

Veteran children's author, Ratna Manucha, is out with a new poetry book titled It's That Time of the year. In this interview, she shares her world of writing . Q1. How did you get into the world of writing? Going down memory lane, I remember the long, lonely days after school, spent poring over Enid Blyton and later, Thomas Hardy and Louisa May Alcott. I cannot pinpoint exactly when I fell in love with the written word, but I do know this, I was well and truly hooked. People eat meals...I ate books, devoured them, in fact! Then marriage happened, and I got an opportunity to write for All India Radio in Assam and West Bengal and Nagaland. In fact, now that I look back, I realise I was always looking for an opportunity to dabble in the written word. Being married to the Olive Greens, I began contributing articles, poems, short stories and limericks to various local papers and magazines in the different places we were posted to. While in Nagpur, I began writing i...

Valentine's day just passed by.  Love is still lingering in the air. Sundari Venkatraman, prolific author and queen of Indian romance novels, shares her thoughts about  writing romance novels and other stuff.                                                           1.Are you ever tempted to explore other genres?        All the time, though there will always be shades of romance in my books. I have written Indian Mythology for children, the first five avatars of the Dashavatar of Vishnu and published them on Amazon Kindle. I will be writing and publishing the other five avatars this year and maybe more books in this genre in 2021. I love Indian Mythology and I also believe there’s a huge quotient of romance and valour in our myths that call out to me....

                                                 The sequel to Malli is finally out.   Written by Jeeva Raghunath and Illustrated by Nancy Raj, Malli         is Coming is a picture book about gratitude and gifts. Malli was first published by Tulika in    2005. Jeeva and Nancy shared a few titbits about the book. Jeeva,Fourteen years is a long time for a book’s sequel. When did you finally start writing Malli’s sequel? What made you think it was time to write Malli’s sequel? I did send a few ideas in between but it didn’t work. That’s it, no deliberate reason! Again, I don’t plan, it happens. Why did you choose the 'return gift' idea as the book’s subject? What childhood memories do you have of gifts? No reason! I was in the flight, fast asleep. When I woke up, the spark happened and I wrote it. I sent...

Nandini Nayar is India's leading writers for children. She is one of the few authors who has successfully written fiction and nonfiction for children of all ages.  Her wide range of writing has made her a respected name in the world of Indian literature. Kahani Takbak quizzed her about books, writing and life. How did you become a writer? I became a writer when I stopped simply dreaming about being a writer and did something. I wrote a story which was published in the children’s pages of Deccan Herald. At that time I was teaching in a school and a student came up to tell me he had read my story and enjoyed it. This was a very positive and effective encouragement and it inspired me to continue writing. Oh, and getting paid for my story was hugely motivating too. I wrote several more stories that were published in the same newspaper. My first picture book happened when I began telling my son stories and sent two of these to Tulika. Tulika accepted both the stories. I ...

Its not everyday we see an author take the trouble to travel all the way to Navi Mumbai for a book reading. Award winning author, Meghna Pant,  was at the Just Books Library, Nerul for the launch of her second book, 'Happy Birthday' on 17.8.13. Author Meghna Pant Welcome Two years. Two books. Hurrah!  Interacting with  a reader   A perfect monsoon read