Last week, I was at a workshop at Christ, Bangalore, where I
met an amazing person called Vidya Mani. She radiated positivity, energy and
passion for children’s books, having made it her life’s mission to get children
to read. And read some more. She calls herself a children’s books ‘writer-editor-bookclubber-bookshopper’
and leads an incredible life immersed in children’s books.
Vidya is behind several children’s magazines, including Chatterbox, Quest, Junior Quest, Hoot and
Toot, a founding member of Bookalore,
a children’s book club in Bangalore, managing editor of Goodbooks, a children’s book review site, and a co-owner of Funky Rainbow, a travelling children’s
bookshop. Whew, she certainly sounds like she has packed the achievements of
several lifetimes into one, doesn’t she?
What I love about Vidya (other than her infectious
enthusiasm, her smile, and her vast collection of books) is her belief in and
dedication to INDIAN children’s literature. She not only writes for children,
she also promotes books by other Indian authors.
And the best thing I like best about her is that she thinks
children should be FREE to decide
what they want to read, and that adults should let children read for FUN,
rather than information and improvement.
May her tribe increase!
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