India
Indian Section of IBBY
Parag, an initiative of Tata Trusts
c/o Kalike
72, Ground Floor, 2nd Cross Rd,
Vinayaka Layout 1st Stage,
Govindaraja Nagar Ward, GKW Layout,
Vijayanagar, Bengaluru,
Karnataka 560040, India
Email: parag.ibbyindia@kalike.org
Website: www.paragreads.in
Facebook: @paraganinitiativeoftatatrusts
Instagram: @paragreads
Twitter/X: @ParagReads
YouTube: Parag An Initiative of Tata Trusts
President
Lakshmi Karunakaran
Email: lakshmikarunakaran@tatatrusts.org
Liaison officer
Proma Basu Roy
Email: promabr.parag@kalike.org
Bookbird correspondent
Tuhina Sharma
Email: tuhinas.parag@kalike.org
History
The Parag Initiative has been working for over a decade towards promoting reading among children and supporting the children’s literature sector in India. It believes in the transformative power of reading. It works to strengthening the children’s literature sector as well as making good books accessible to children, and is committed to a focus on the disadvantaged communities.
The Parag Initiative joined IBBY in January 2024.
Main projects
- Book Development: Parag supports development of good books by working with independent publishers. 900+ good quality books, original and translations, have been published in over 15 different Indian languages, with estimated readership 40 million in schools, community libraries and homes.
- Library: The school library programme aims to create spaces where children read for pleasure, feel welcome, and engage in activities around books that help them engage. Parag currently enables 6000+ libraries in schools and communities across 8 states in India.
- Professional Development: Parag offers a blended professional development course, the Library Educators Course (LEC), and Children’s Library Course (CLC), and the E-Course, an introductory online course on children’s libraries.
- Recognitions: Parag awards authors and illustrators for their significant contribution to children’s literature in India through the ‘Big Little Book Award’ and by launching a ‘Parag Honour List’ of outstanding books in Hindi and in English through the Parag Honour List, annually.
- Events for publicity, promotion and sector building: Parag collaborates with literature festivals, organisations, book stores and various stakeholders of the sector for building discourse on reading promotion and children’s literature.
News and events
- Article: Cover story on Parag Initiative in Horizons magazine
The Parag Initiative is on a mission to spread the word on reading, to create an ecosystem that enables children to embrace the world of books... Read more
- Article: "A wealth of treasure to dip into"
Read-alouds have so much power. Most people understand that reading contributes to an increase in the development of essential language skills and fosters imagination and creativity in children. However, developing a love for reading goes way beyond this... Read more