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Parag Illustrator Prize 2025: Heartiest Congratulations to Rishi Sahany.
Rishi Sahany is an animation film maker, designer and Illustrator. He loves to draw stories, swim in open waters, observe fishes under water, spying on water hens drying under the sun at the river banks and feels fortunate when a snake accompanies him for the swim. He enjoyed school but hated studying, and bunked school to go on hikes. Through all of this, Rishi wanted to become an artist.
After graduation, his love for drawing found space, and he turned to animation. He received the prestigious National Award in 2015 as an Animation Director for his film ‘Sound of Joy’. Rishi has also written and directed another animated short film, ‘Poly-ticks’, a political satire, which was nominated for national and international film festivals in 2009, notably, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, (IFFLA) 2009 and Anifest 2009.
Illustrations for children’s books always fascinated him. His first illustrated book is Roo Roo, published in 2021 by Jugnoo Prakashan. And his most recent book is Sa Re Ga Ma Pakshi.
“Rishi Sahany’s illustrations are immediately identifiable despite moving between exaggerated caricatures on one hand, and studio life-drawings on the other, between restraint and minimalism, and elaborately painted landscapes. There’s always a playfulness and lightness of touch. The images are filled with meaning and metaphor and often lean into the absurd and silly. The imagery never feels like it has been sanitized or watered down for a young audience, but always feels like an artistic choice.”
Rishi Sahany full interview
Rishi Sahany Citation
Rishi Sahany Notable Works
Rishi Sahany is an animation film maker, designer and Illustrator. He loves to draw stories, swim in open waters, observe fishes under water, spying on water hens drying under the sun at the river banks and feels fortunate when a snake accompanies him for the swim. He enjoyed school but hated studying, and bunked school to go on hikes. Through all of this, Rishi wanted to become an artist.
After graduation, his love for drawing found space, and he turned to animation. He received the prestigious National Award in 2015 as an Animation Director for his film ‘Sound of Joy’. Rishi has also written and directed another animated short film, ‘Poly-ticks’, a political satire, which was nominated for national and international film festivals in 2009, notably, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, (IFFLA) 2009 and Anifest 2009.
Illustrations for children’s books always fascinated him. His first illustrated book is Roo Roo, published in 2021 by Jugnoo Prakashan. And his most recent book is Sa Re Ga Ma Pakshi.
“Rishi Sahany’s illustrations are immediately identifiable despite moving between exaggerated caricatures on one hand, and studio life-drawings on the other, between restraint and minimalism, and elaborately painted landscapes. There’s always a playfulness and lightness of touch. The images are filled with meaning and metaphor and often lean into the absurd and silly. The imagery never feels like it has been sanitized or watered down for a young audience, but always feels like an artistic choice.”
Rishi Sahany full interview
Rishi Sahany Citation
Rishi Sahany Notable Works
Anushka Ravishankar has written over forty books for children, including picture books in verse, 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 (now a Penguin Random House India imprint). Some of her books are Hic!, Ogd, Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Bananas and Moin and the Monkey Monster.
Anushka Ravishankar has written over forty books for children, including picture books in verse, 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 (now a Penguin Random House India imprint). Some of her books are Hic!, Ogd, Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Bananas and Moin and the Monkey Monster.
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 King and Queen, Seed, The Sea in a Bucket and 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 Mountain Book Award, Canada, the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, UK, the Kalinga Literary Festival 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 King and Queen, Seed, The Sea in a Bucket and 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 Mountain Book Award, Canada, the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, UK, the Kalinga Literary Festival 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 in schools and informal learning spaces. She has created site-specific nature activities for classrooms set in BRT Sanctuary and Ladakh with the Kalpavriksh education team. Once upon a time, Yashodara ran the Campus Book Store at the Indian Institute of Science and also apprenticed at a public library in Bangalore. More recently, she has been helping school libraries sort, re-classify and enrich their book collections.
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 in schools and informal learning spaces. She has created site-specific nature activities for classrooms set in BRT Sanctuary and Ladakh with the Kalpavriksh education team. Once upon a time, Yashodara ran the Campus Book Store at the Indian Institute of Science and also apprenticed at a public library in Bangalore. More recently, she has been helping school libraries sort, re-classify and enrich their book collections.
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.
