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From 2025, Big Little Book Award (BLBA) has been renamed as Parag Significant Contribution Award.
Heartiest Congratulations to Taposhi Ghoshal.
Taposhi Ghoshal is a Delhi-based freelance illustrator and designer, actively working in the field since 1993. She has collaborated with numerous NGOs and leading publishing houses, including Katha, Amnesty International, Care India, Eklavya, Pratham Books, National Book Trust, Rupa, Orient Longman, Ratna Sagar, Scholastic India, Penguin India, and PVR Cinemas’ CSR initiative, PVR Nest, Ektara Trust Takshila Educational Society.
From 1989 to 1992, she worked with Katha, an NGO dedicated to education and publishing. Over the years, she has contributed extensively to children’s literature and visual storytelling. She designed Pluto, a Hindi children’s magazine for Takshila Publication and Educational Society, and is currently the designer of Cycle, a Hindi children’s magazine by Ektara Publication. Alongside her professional practice, she serves as a faculty member at Riyaaz, Academy for Illustrators – an initiative by Ektara in collaboration with the Parag initiative of Tata Trusts, where she mentors emerging illustrators and contributes to nurturing the next generation of visual storytellers.
“Taposhi’s long years of engagement with children of different sections of society and her association with several NGOs have led to a body of work that is not only vast but also distinctly Indian in appeal. Her experience and sensitivity combine with her observation and understanding of people, animals and nature to take her illustrations to a deeper level. She is constantly experimenting with different art styles while retaining her unique sense of expression.”
Taposhi Ghoshal Interview
Taposhi Ghoshal Citation
Taposhi Ghoshal Notable Works
Taposhi Ghoshal is a Delhi-based freelance illustrator and designer, actively working in the field since 1993. She has collaborated with numerous NGOs and leading publishing houses, including Katha, Amnesty International, Care India, Eklavya, Pratham Books, National Book Trust, Rupa, Orient Longman, Ratna Sagar, Scholastic India, Penguin India, and PVR Cinemas’ CSR initiative, PVR Nest, Ektara Trust Takshila Educational Society.
From 1989 to 1992, she worked with Katha, an NGO dedicated to education and publishing. Over the years, she has contributed extensively to children’s literature and visual storytelling. She designed Pluto, a Hindi children’s magazine for Takshila Publication and Educational Society, and is currently the designer of Cycle, a Hindi children’s magazine by Ektara Publication. Alongside her professional practice, she serves as a faculty member at Riyaaz, Academy for Illustrators – an initiative by Ektara in collaboration with the Parag initiative of Tata Trusts, where she mentors emerging illustrators and contributes to nurturing the next generation of visual storytellers.
“Taposhi’s long years of engagement with children of different sections of society and her association with several NGOs have led to a body of work that is not only vast but also distinctly Indian in appeal. Her experience and sensitivity combine with her observation and understanding of people, animals and nature to take her illustrations to a deeper level. She is constantly experimenting with different art styles while retaining her unique sense of expression.”
Taposhi Ghoshal Interview
Taposhi Ghoshal Citation
Taposhi Ghoshal Notable Works
Anushka Ravishankar has written over forty books for children, including picture books inverse, chapter books, retellings of folk tales and non-fiction. Several of them have been published internationally and have won awards. As a picture book writer, she has collaborated with illustrators from all over the world. She worked as an editor at Tara Books and Scholastic India before co-founding a children’s publishing house called Duckbill Books (which is now a Penguin Random House India imprint). Some of her books are Moin and the Monster, Hic!, Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Bananas and Ogd.
Anushka Ravishankar has written over forty books for children, including picture books inverse, chapter books, retellings of folk tales and non-fiction. Several of them have been published internationally and have won awards. As a picture book writer, she has collaborated with illustrators from all over the world. She worked as an editor at Tara Books and Scholastic India before co-founding a children’s publishing house called Duckbill Books (which is now a Penguin Random House India imprint). Some of her books are Moin and the Monster, Hic!, Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Bananas and Ogd.
Deepa Balsavar is an author and an illustrator for children. She lives in Mumbai amidst dogs and cats, and teaches at IDC, School of Design, IIT Bombay as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Communications Design Department. She has been a part of the Avehi Abacus Project for over twenty years, involved in research, writing and creating visual learning material for children. In 2021, Deepa received the Big Little Book Award, awarded by the Parag Initiative of Tata Trusts, for her significant contribution to children’s literature in India through illustrations. Some of her picture books are The Lonely Kind and Queen, Seed, The Sea in a Bucket, Our Library. Her book Headstrap/The Sherpa Trail, co-authored with Nandini Purandare on the climbing Sherpa community of Darjeeling, was published in 2024 to international acclaim. The book has already won four writing awards including the Banff Climbing Writing award, Canada, the Boardman Tasker Mountain Literature award, UK, the Kalinga award for non-fiction and the Kekoo Naoroji award for best book on mountain literature.
Deepa Balsavar is an author and an illustrator for children. She lives in Mumbai amidst dogs and cats, and teaches at IDC, School of Design, IIT Bombay as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Communications Design Department. She has been a part of the Avehi Abacus Project for over twenty years, involved in research, writing and creating visual learning material for children. In 2021, Deepa received the Big Little Book Award, awarded by the Parag Initiative of Tata Trusts, for her significant contribution to children’s literature in India through illustrations. Some of her picture books are The Lonely Kind and Queen, Seed, The Sea in a Bucket, Our Library. Her book Headstrap/The Sherpa Trail, co-authored with Nandini Purandare on the climbing Sherpa community of Darjeeling, was published in 2024 to international acclaim. The book has already won four writing awards including the Banff Climbing Writing award, Canada, the Boardman Tasker Mountain Literature award, UK, the Kalinga award for non-fiction and the Kekoo Naoroji award for best book on mountain literature.
Jane Sahi has taught in an alternative school near Bengaluru for a number of years. She has until recently been engaged in teaching at the Library Educators’ Course at Bookworm in Goa. She is presently involved in The Fig Tree Learners’ Centre that works with local government schools particularly in relation to library activities and sessions with children looking at nature through observation, stories and art work. Jane has written a number of books including “In Our Own Words” which is about how to support children’s independent and creative writing. She has taught courses related to language pedagogy and children’s literature at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and at Azim Premji University in Bengaluru.
Jane Sahi has taught in an alternative school near Bengaluru for a number of years. She has until recently been engaged in teaching at the Library Educators’ Course at Bookworm in Goa. She is presently involved in The Fig Tree Learners’ Centre that works with local government schools particularly in relation to library activities and sessions with children looking at nature through observation, stories and art work. Jane has written a number of books including “In Our Own Words” which is about how to support children’s independent and creative writing. She has taught courses related to language pedagogy and children’s literature at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and at Azim Premji University in Bengaluru.
Rajiv Eipe is an animator and an illustrator of picture books and comics. He studied Painting at J J School of Art, Bombay, after which he moved to studying Animation and Film Design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. He has worked on children’s books with various publishers and has animated short films for television, film and streaming platforms. In 2020, he received the Big Little Book Award, awarded by the Parag Initiative of Tata Trusts, for his significant contribution to children’s literature in India through illustrations. Some of his picture books include Dugga, Hello Sun, Ammachi’s Amazing Machines, and the Maithili and the Minotaur comic book series with C G Salamander. He lives in Bangalore with his partner, two cats and a dog.
Rajiv Eipe is an animator and an illustrator of picture books and comics. He studied Painting at J J School of Art, Bombay, after which he moved to studying Animation and Film Design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. He has worked on children’s books with various publishers and has animated short films for television, film and streaming platforms. In 2020, he received the Big Little Book Award, awarded by the Parag Initiative of Tata Trusts, for his significant contribution to children’s literature in India through illustrations. Some of his picture books include Dugga, Hello Sun, Ammachi’s Amazing Machines, and the Maithili and the Minotaur comic book series with C G Salamander. He lives in Bangalore with his partner, two cats and a dog.
Yashodara enjoys sharing books with children of all ages and backgrounds. For a decade she anchored the ‘Open Library’ at Centre for Learning, Bangalore. She has taught English as a second language to children in formal and informal learning spaces. Along with colleagues at Kalpavriksh, she created nature activities for classrooms for two site-specific environment education projects based in Ladakh and BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. Yashodara ran the Campus Book Store at Indian Institute of Science, also apprenticed in a public library in Bangalore decades ago. She enjoys doing handwork and origami with children.
Yashodara enjoys sharing books with children of all ages and backgrounds. For a decade she anchored the ‘Open Library’ at Centre for Learning, Bangalore. She has taught English as a second language to children in formal and informal learning spaces. Along with colleagues at Kalpavriksh, she created nature activities for classrooms for two site-specific environment education projects based in Ladakh and BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. Yashodara ran the Campus Book Store at Indian Institute of Science, also apprenticed in a public library in Bangalore decades ago. She enjoys doing handwork and origami with children.
LEC Hindi is open to all educators and intended for teachers, school librarians, development sector professionals, and literacy and language educators and in fact for every one working with children and books with the desire to spread the joy and culture of reading. The LEC offers a unique opportunity to strengthen understanding and academic thinking linked to practice in a well-designed, highly charged environment with some of the best library practitioners in the field.
The course comprises three contact sessions in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. LEC hindi has successfully completed seven batches. More than two hundred library educators and teachers from 43 organisations across 19 states have participated in the course.
Participation on moodle during distance mode, completion of assignments and field projects are graded. For more information, please go through the course prospectus.
An annual award that recognizes and honours original and significant contribution of Indian authors and illustrators to children’s literature in Indian languages.
Parag’s annual Children’s Library Conference where library educators and others engaged in the library, with reading and children exchange ideas, present best practices and challenges.
How do illustrators train? What happens during the course of a contact week at the Riyaaz Academy for Illustrators? This photo essay takes a sneak peek into the various aspects of the course.
