Pratham Books Wins Two Publishing Next Industry Awards

Why?

Because we won…not one… but TWO awards at the Publishing Next conference in Goa. 

We won awards for :

 Publishing Innovation of the year (for the Adi Kahani series in tribal languages)

Digital book of the year (Too Much Noise)

The Publishing Next Industry Awards reward the talent, initiative, entrepreneurial zeal and untiring efforts of publishers – big, small, independent – that create books. Established under the aegis of the neutral platform of the Publishing Next Conference, the awards seek to recognize innovation and leadership in the book trade.

The Adikahani series is a set of 10 story books and four story cards in Saura, Munda, Kui and Juanga languages. The Adikahani series is a very important step for us, as it marks the beginning of a journey where as a publisher, we not only publish in Indian languages but also the first books for children in tribal languages that have no body of printed literature and some don’t even have a commonly accepted script. We are drawing a new set of first generation school goers into the ambit of reading for pleasure. It is a small but significant beginning to right the balance of power between the margins and the mainstream. With these books we are seeding a new set of readers and showing the way to other publishers to reach out to a nascent market.

A big thank you to:

Illustrators group: Sugrib Kumar Juanga, Sanatan Juanga, Kusha Kumar Barik, Ramani Ranjan Sarangi, Pradip Kumar Sahoo

Juanga Writers Group: Dambarudhar Juanga, Hitabandhu Juanga, Kodanda Juanga, Kshetrabasi Juanga, Maheswar Juanga

Kui Writers Group: Buna Kanhar, Philmon Pradhan, Pramod Kumar Digal

Munda Writers Group: Budhnath Munda, Prafulla Kumar Surin, Prafulla Tapno, Rabindra Kumar Singh, Santosh Kumar Singh,

Saura Writers Group: Abena Gamanga, Ajama Gamanga,Isak Karji, Pradina Gamanga, Srinibasha Gamanga

Subir Shukla, Smruti Ranjan Jena, Surendra Prasad Singh of Ignus ERG

Gopika Chowfla and Kalyani (from Gopika Chowfla Design)

Dharitri Patnaik at the Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF) for funding the workshops and the books

To all the translators who also translated these stories into other languages.

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‘Too Much Noise’ marked the beginning of our journey as a publisher into the “digital – first” world. We want to make hundreds of digital stories available for free, which can be accessed on many devices including mobile phones and helps us fulfill our mission of taking stories to every child in India. ‘Too Much Noise’ written by Noni (Rohini Nilekani) and illustrated by Angie and Upesh has been released under a Creative Commons license.

A big thank you to :

Rohini Nilekani for writing this story,

Angie and Upesh for illustrating the story,

Jagdish Repaswal and MangoReader for creating the interactive book,

Pallavi Rao and Radio Mirchi (Mirchi Cares) for facilitating the audio versions of the story,

Parthibhan Amudhan and BookBox for creating the animated version of the story.

Sanjay Shripad, Rajesh Khar, Mukund Taksale, Meera Tushar Punarvasu, S Jayaraman, Sugunasri for translating these stories into other languages.

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