'Once a poet was reciting his poems to a group of children when one child asked, "How did you become a poet?" The poet answered, "Well, I like words and the rhymes." In all his innocence, the child said, "Oh! I thought to become a poet, you must be dead."'
Growing up only 'hearing' about Keats, Frost, Wilde, and never having met a poet, the child's question had its profoundness which got eight people from different parts of Bangalore, thinking. Not just the question, there were many other aspects.
One was that while there are plenty of words around to convey to children, at times, like Bangalore's traffic, they jam. Another aspect was that having known each other for 15 years, the authors, writers, illustrators, reading consultants, that formed the eight, had never met in Bangalore. The only time they met was in Delhi during the children's literature festival, Bookaroo. This got them thinking further.
Bringing the book out of the shelf and get the child to read was another aspect that finally sealed their thought process. Bookalore came to being in January this year. And their idea is simple.
Get the child to read and how? Package it in such a way that they find it interesting.
The team
Seven events and the team is all about being young at heart. Formed by people who focus only on children's literature, they are in the age group between 40 and 60. For them, to bring out the child within is not a rare occurrence, it is the rule.
And Bookalore has what it needs to deal with innocence; it has innocence cleanly layered with ounces of sagacity, percipience and patience. They are the best in the business and they are the best at agglutinating. The intellect is evident and so is the child-like enthusiasm. Their urge to connect with a child is greater than the eagerness of the child himself. So when they say that Bookalore has lot of plans and the mountain is huge to climb, they also say, "Well, we will never run out of children."
The idea
"Our main aim is bring books and children together in exciting and innovative ways. Typically, we hold events once a month, at different venues across Bangalore, and have readings and activities for children of various age-groups. And they and their parents get to meet the author they have only heard of," says writer-editor Vidya Mani, whose sensible brilliance matches her child-like enthusiasm.
The team used to work independently with their publishers. And when it came to the book launch, the publisher had complete control; be it the venue, the mailing list, the agenda, etc. As an individual they could not get the right number of children.
"After we formed the collective, we have been able to get a much larger audience. So we were able to combat the challenge of less number of children attending our events. We have a lot of creative freedom and were able to do things that you cannot imagine to do during a normal book launch. The children love it because they have total freedom and there is no competition. And it is never just book reading. It is always a memorable experience for the child," says author Asha Nehemiah, who is unanimously credited with initiating Bookalore.
During every event, a small bookstore accompanies Bookalore and 90 per cent of the books are from Indian authors. The events always have books accompanied by illustration or crafts or story telling and more.
"It is never just about the book; it is about engaging them and letting them know that it is also about the book. It is much easier to connect with children because they are more receptive and open. They come with an open mind," says author and storyteller Vijaylakshmi Nagaraj, with an expression that confirms why she is good at what she does.
The collective has had a few loyal parents who are very much pro-reading and that helped. According to them, children know what they want and they are quite sure about it. "With the kind of exposure that the children have these days, they need crisp and crackling stuff and we have to keep pace with their minds. So the book has to be as good if not better, else they will just pick the app. It is all about a good story but then we have to be little more conscious these days. They like what they look at and we are competing with a lot many things - toys, video games, cartoon network, etc. We have to catch their attention so we have to package it in such a way that it draws them. But finally, it is all about the content," says illustrator-filmmaker Shyam Madhavan Sarada, the only male in the team and his secret to survival, probably his aphorisms.
The way forward
The collective also wants to dispel a myth. That Indian books are not creative. "Children books in our country have been relegated to the backyard but there is so much of potential," says Vidya.
The group has plans to have a website soon, but right now they are satisfied with their page on Facebook.
"We want writers and illustrators in Bangalore to be part of our club. Right now we are associated with about 40 of them, and all of them focus on children and young adults," says Asha.
The group has been funding all their events through their own resources. "Our model is still evolving and right from the start, we wanted it to be sustainable and it continues. But sooner or later, we will look at how we can get sponsors. For us, these events are a reality every month. And if we have to give the best to the children, we will have to look at sponsors," says Vidya.
This November, the group plans to have two events; one for children and another for authors of children's books. "It is important for authors to meet and get to know more about many aspects in the publishing world that we are not aware. We also want to organise a children's literature festival," says Asha.
Bookalore's next event is a three-hour long session at the Bangalore Literature Festival on Saturday, September 28.
To contact Bookalore, write to bookalore@gmail.com