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Sahitya Akadami Awardee Paro Anand Tells Us Why Children's Literature Is Important

    • nitya.shukla@timesgroup.com
    • Publish Date: Sep 27 2017 12:15PM
      • |
    • Updated Date: Nov 21 2017 12:00PM
Sahitya Akadami Awardee Paro Anand Tells Us Why Children's Literature Is Important

Paro Anand, prolific author and Sahitya Akademi Bal Puraskar (2017) recipient, tells us why she writes stories that deal with prejudice, hatred, terrorism, failure, and being different

As someone who works with children, especially in difficult circumstances, Paro Anand’s stories are rooted in reality. The storyteller and author (of over 20 stories) won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017 for her book ‘Like Smoke’. It tells stories of teenagers who lead troubled lives.

Teen Angst
Asked about her subject,  Anand says she likes to focus on teenagers because they are always in an “antsy, angsty space”. She explains, “When I ask them about situations where they confront any kind of conflict in their daily lives, they come up with all kinds of examples... from conflict with parents, teachers, friends, siblings, even with themselves.” Their tenacity and fortitude inspires her to write these stories. 
 
‘On Prejudice’
Addressing the inner conflicts of her young audience apart,  Anand has fearlessly written  about prejudice. One of the stories in ‘Like Smoke’ deals with communal hatred. Anand recalls an incident that became the inspiration for this particular story. She overheard a group of school students unabashedly voicing negativity towards a particular community. She says “The words, that scene, wounded me. I wondered if these children really understood what they were saying, whether they really had any basis for this hate. I started talking to people in India and abroad, and found that too many people harbour similar thoughts. That’s when I knew this was a story I had to write.”  

Achievements  
Anand has worked with over three lakh children and is a world record holder for helping over 3,000 children from across India to make the ‘World’s Longest Newspaper’. The author runs ‘Literature in Action’ – an initiative that trains children, teachers, and NGOs to use literature for a person’s all-round development.”  

‘An Accomplished liar’ 
The author calls herself an ‘accomplished liar’ with a talent for making her ordinary life sound extraordinary. Like the time “I made up the fact that I had a pet monkey at home, when in truth I had a very old dog who was more like an immovable rug on the floor.”
 
Reading Reccos
“We all have different tastes and it is a question of finding the right book that blows your mind. It cannot be a ‘one size fits all’ approach. I think this is a mistake that teachers and parents make. So often people say that one’s reading list isn’t complete if you’ve left out Charles Dickens or some other author... I never enjoyed Dickens and I would have been put off reading forever if I had not had a greater access to books and found what I liked,” she says. Readers can only be as good as the books they have access to, believes Anand, adding, “I think the onus of becoming readers should be on us – the creators of literature, the publishers, the writers, the media, social media and bookstores, libraries and teachers... so that the reader gets a choice and gets to know more about what their options are.” 
 

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Comments

Hemalatha.G Sethu Bhaskara Matriculation Higher Secondary Scho

Nice!

P.S Geethanjali Nalanda Vidya Niketan, Vijayawada

Nice Interview

Prathamesh Kandale HILLGREEN SCHOOL

Exquisite interview!!!

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Paro Anand, prolific author and Sahitya Akademi Bal Puraskar (2017) recipient, tells us why she writes stories that deal with prejudice, hatred, terrorism, failure, and being different

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Paro Anand, prolific author and Sahitya Akademi Bal Puraskar (2017) recipient, tells us why she writes stories that deal with prejudice, hatred, terrorism, failure, and being different

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Paro Anand, prolific author and Sahitya Akademi Bal Puraskar (2017) recipient, tells us why she writes stories that deal with prejudice, hatred, terrorism, failure, and being different

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

As someone who works with children, especially in difficult circumstances, Paro Anand’s stories are rooted in reality. The storyteller and author (of over 20 stories) won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017 for her book ‘Like Smoke’. It tells stories of teenagers who lead troubled lives.

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Teen Angst Asked about her subject, Anand says she likes to focus on teenagers because they are always in an “antsy, angsty space”. She explains, “When I ask them about situations where they confront any kind of conflict in their daily lives, they come up with all kinds of examples... from conflict with parents, teachers, friends, siblings, even with themselves.” Their tenacity and fortitude inspires her to write these stories.

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Teen Angst Asked about her subject, Anand says she likes to focus on teenagers because they are always in an “antsy, angsty space”. She explains, “When I ask them about situations where they confront any kind of conflict in their daily lives, they come up with all kinds of examples... from conflict with parents, teachers, friends, siblings, even with themselves.” Their tenacity and fortitude inspires her to write these stories.

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Teen Angst Asked about her subject, Anand says she likes to focus on teenagers because they are always in an “antsy, angsty space”. She explains, “When I ask them about situations where they confront any kind of conflict in their daily lives, they come up with all kinds of examples... from conflict with parents, teachers, friends, siblings, even with themselves.” Their tenacity and fortitude inspires her to write these stories.

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Teen Angst Asked about her subject, Anand says she likes to focus on teenagers because they are always in an “antsy, angsty space”. She explains, “When I ask them about situations where they confront any kind of conflict in their daily lives, they come up with all kinds of examples... from conflict with parents, teachers, friends, siblings, even with themselves.” Their tenacity and fortitude inspires her to write these stories.

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Addressing the inner conflicts of her young audience apart, Anand has fearlessly written about prejudice. One of the stories in ‘Like Smoke’ deals with communal hatred. Anand recalls an incident that became the inspiration for this particular story. She overheard a group of school students unabashedly voicing negativity towards a particular community. She says “The words, that scene, wounded me. I wondered if these children really understood what they were saying, whether they really had any b

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Achievements Anand has worked with over three lakh children and is a world record holder for helping over 3,000 children from across India to make the ‘World’s Longest Newspaper’. The author runs ‘Literature in Action’ – an initiative that trains children, teachers, and NGOs to use literature for a person’s all-round development.”

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Achievements Anand has worked with over three lakh children and is a world record holder for helping over 3,000 children from across India to make the ‘World’s Longest Newspaper’. The author runs ‘Literature in Action’ – an initiative that trains children, teachers, and NGOs to use literature for a person’s all-round development.”

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

‘An Accomplished liar’ The author calls herself an ‘accomplished liar’ with a talent for making her ordinary life sound extraordinary. Like the time “I made up the fact that I had a pet monkey at home, when in truth I had a very old dog who was more like an immovable rug on the floor.” Reading Reccos

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

‘An Accomplished liar’ The author calls herself an ‘accomplished liar’ with a talent for making her ordinary life sound extraordinary. Like the time “I made up the fact that I had a pet monkey at home, when in truth I had a very old dog who was more like an immovable rug on the floor.” Reading Reccos

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

‘An Accomplished liar’ The author calls herself an ‘accomplished liar’ with a talent for making her ordinary life sound extraordinary. Like the time “I made up the fact that I had a pet monkey at home, when in truth I had a very old dog who was more like an immovable rug on the floor.” Reading Reccos

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Reading Reccos “We all have different tastes and it is a question of finding the right book that blows your mind. It cannot be a ‘one size fits all’ approach. I think this is a mistake that teachers and parents make.

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

So often people say that one’s reading list isn’t complete if you’ve left out Charles Dickens or some other author... I never enjoyed Dickens and I would have been put off reading forever if I had not had a greater access to books and found what I liked,”

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Readers can only be as good as the books they have access to, believes Anand, adding, “I think the onus of becoming readers should be on us – the creators of literature, the publishers, the writers, the media, social media and bookstores, libraries and teachers... so that the reader gets a choice and gets to know more about what their options are.”

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Readers can only be as good as the books they have access to, believes Anand, adding, “I think the onus of becoming readers should be on us – the creators of literature, the publishers, the writers, the media, social media and bookstores, libraries and teachers... so that the reader gets a choice and gets to know more about what their options are.”

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Readers can only be as good as the books they have access to, believes Anand, adding, “I think the onus of becoming readers should be on us – the creators of literature, the publishers, the writers, the media, social media and bookstores, libraries and teachers... so that the reader gets a choice and gets to know more about what their options are.”

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