HYDERABAD: For renowned children’s books author Paro Anand, the City of Nizams holds a special place in her heart. It is here that she had found inspiration to enact her stories, in order to overcome the language barrier. She says she got bitten by the theatre bug early on, having studied Theatre at Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts, Delhi after finishing her graduation. She went on to become a Theatre teacher and discovered that there were no play scripts for contemporary Indian children. So she took to writing play scripts, and from there, to writing stories.
Former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who had enjoyed being with kids, had loved her book No Guns at My Son’s Funeral and felicitated her at an event held in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Interestingly, the title is regarded as one of India’s first ‘crossover’ books, being read and appreciated equally by young adults and adults alike. She also received an award from The Russian Centre for Science and Culture (RCSC) for her contribution to children’s literature in 1997.
Paro Anand’s Like Smoke is a collection of 20 teen-related stories of courage, hope and love. It won the Sahitya Akademi Bal Puraskar Award, 2017. “Those Yellow Flowers of August” explores how a girl who was conditioned to hate Muslims finds her perspective changing; “In the Shadow of Greatness” tells about the daughter of a famous actress who finally comes out of her mother’s shadow and strikes on her own; “Wild Child”, about a schoolgirl who had a traumatic past, and other stories move the reader with their intensity and vivid portrayal of the characters.
Her ‘Literature in Action’ programme uses stories as a tool to talk, write and perform on subjects that today’s kids are already aware of. Her future projects include – Nomad’s Land, a novel on displacement for young adults, A Day with Gandhi, a novel on a contemporary teen’s interaction with Gandhian values, among others.