Translating and narrating stories from various languages of India since 1988, Katha has over 300 published titles that introduce young readers to the heterogeneity of our country. Geeta Dharmarajan, Delhi-based author-translator and the founder of Katha, says they see translation as a process to link the cultural diversity of India to identify, understand and celebrate differences in languages, cultural practices and various belief systems. It attempts to bring alive the élan and evocativeness of the original stories in 21 Indian languages to its readers written and illustrated by established authors, artists, journalists and social workers who “are delighted to contribute for the betterment of the coming generations.”
Translating and narrating stories from various languages of India since 1988, Katha has over 300 published titles that introduce young readers to the heterogeneity of our country.
Adding to Katha’s long list of children’s books are the recently published “The Case of the Runaway Continents”, “Little Cloud’s Quest”, “Run Ranga Run”, “The Bicycle” and “What did Nep do with a Sari?”. Using beautiful, colour-filled and elaborate illustrations of characters with names such as Ranga, an one-horned rhinoceros, portraying a little boy affectionately addressing his mother as “amma”; narrating the story of a sari; that of an old dadi doting on her grandchild; featuring women adorned with bangles, etc., the authors including Dharmarajan, Paavannan, Benita Sen, Stephen Aitken and Sylia Sikandar, have tried bringing to school children the country’s cultural diversity.
Interestingly, about 124 books published by Katha have been named as recommended readings by the CBSE for children of schools other than those run by Katha in Delhi. . Also, striving to provide children with a fun way of learning, Katha is currently working for the second year on its ilovereading programme with the CBSE for all 14,000 plus CBSE schools. The programme aims at nurturing the art of storytelling among children.
Dharmarajan says, to nurture the literary passion of young readers, Katha comes out with 20-25 titles per year with a thrust on folktales and linguistic cultures. About 15-20 of them are for little readers and the rest are for young adults and adults.
