The Freedom to Read

As part of Banned Books Week, Nilanjana Roy has been running a series of posts on banned books and the freedom to read. I wrote a piece over what the Freedom to Read means to me and how it has influenced some of our work at Pratham Books.

To make the “Freedom to Read” a meaningful proposition in India there are at least three elements of the puzzle that require bolstering. We need more content, in more languages and ways of circumventing the high cost of distribution in India. ‘Innovation’ is a much-abused term that in the context of the Indian children’s book publishing industry, has invariably begun and ended with product and price strategies. For the “Freedom to Read” to be truly effective, publishers will need to create new models of innovation to address the entire content cycle – from the creation, distribution and consumption to the conversation around content – to make an impact in the gargantuan problem that this space represents.

Please head on over to her blog to read the entire piece. Other pieces in this series are also worth a read.