In Conversation with Award-winning author Sowmya Rajendran.
She has worked with publishers like Tulika, Pratham, penguin, Harper Collins and Rupa Publications. She was also awarded the Sahita Academy's Barita Paraskar in 2015 for her novel ramya will not be quiet. Her nonfiction book on gender, big Hero Size Zero, was chosen as an honor book at the Hindu Young World Good Books Awards in 2016. Ramya has written extensively for the Exceed curriculum in schools. Ramya was previously the features editor with the News Minute writing on gender, culture and cinema
My answer was always that I wanted to become a writer. So, yes, I did write a lot as a child. I used to write poetry. Much of it was quite terrible in retrospect. I used to write poems based on nature and then as a teenager I used to share my angst at the world in the form of poetry. I used to write plays. I also tried writing stories which were mostly imitative of inadvertent, even though I had never been to the UK
Thanks for sharing that, Ramya. So what we read to children today definitely shapes their actions tomorrow. Issues such as idealization of love at first sight, dependence of women on men, setting ideals, beauty standards, association of ugliness with being evil. These are all just some of the tropes in fairy tales and stories that have been told to children time and again. Do you think a new gen duration of bedtime stories is the need of the AR?
And I remember that I would start telling her these fairy tales and then I would start changing the story midway because I just couldn't bring myself to tell her a story where the girl just waits as a damsel in distress for the prince to come and rescue her. So I started changing the endings, I started changing the plots, and the end result was a book. And that book has done very well. There are several children who've written to me saying that they really enjoyed reading these retellings
Oh, you you absolutely made a brilliant point there, Ramya, about encouraging our kids to think more critically when they engage with, you know, traditional children's literature. So Wings to Fly, Miles Will Not Be Quiet, and The Place in Traction are just a few of your path breaking books that have challenged these stereotypical notions of beauty, gender and disability in kids literature. So how do you manage to write about such serious themes in a way that children can relate to?
I have very vivid memories of my childhood. If you ask me what I ate for breakfast yesterday, I probably won't be able to tell you. But I remember a lot from my childhood, the things I did, what I enjoyed, my impressions about things. So I draw from those experiences. And like all other writers, I also learn a lot through observation
Thank you so much for sharing that. Moving on to our next question. Despite having a number of publishing houses and independent publishers focusing on children's literature, it is really surprising that the majority of young readers in India are more familiar with and are reading books that are published abroad. Children seem to be more familiar with Geronimo Stilton, the Wimpy Kid and Harry Potter and are very swami and friends. Or Mail or Gajabati Kula Pati
But it wasn't to the extent that we see today the diversity of books that exist in India today. I would say that there are a lot of indie children's books publishers who are bringing out extremely interesting books. But compared to what we have in the west, the print runs in India are very modest. They're anywhere between 2000 to 5000 copies, the first print run. And then if the book does well and there is a demand, then they do a reprint
Absolutely agree with the points you brought up. Sowmya I think we still have a long way to go in terms of bringing the spotlight on children's literature. So I would love for this conversation of us to be encouraging to aspiring writers listening in. So do you have any words of advice for them, perhaps and anecdote from your personal experience as a writer?
Life is material. The more you live, the more you enjoy, the more you take in, the more you absorb, the more you can capture those experiences in your writing. And you have to do it on a regular basis. When you keep doing that, the process will become easier and easier and one fine day you will find that the words just flow out of you. And always write in your own voice. Don't try to imitate another person you may admire somebody is writing
Thank you so much for taking the time out to join the conversation and for sharing your writing journey and your perspective. Sowmya I have absolutely loved having this chat with you and would definitely love to have you back on for more writer leads discussions. So I'm going to be linking your website here for our listeners to follow your work and to connect with you. Thanks again. All the best and more part of your words
