Why Sudeshna Shome Ghosh took on ‘one of the toughest jobs in publishing’: Children’s picture books

Imagine a book. A slim one. A colourful one. You flip through it, and it appears to be a simple story. You are intrigued enough to read it, and soon you are no longer in this mundane world. You are gone – into a place where the wild things are, or where there are so many ways to say goodnight to a moon, or perhaps where a hungry caterpillar needs to eat some green leaves.

Within the space of 30-and-odd pages, you, the reader, have gone on a journey of great action, experienced a character arc, and seen the action ebb and flow. And if you are lucky with the book you opened, you have ended up with a simple but profound thought, one that makes you see the world around you in a slightly new way.

The magic of picture books can never be stated enough. The words in them are distilled to catch the essence of a world created for the child. The illustrations need to be just in balance so that they tickle the imagination without overwhelming the senses. Undoubtedly, creating picture books is one of the toughest jobs in publishing.

India has seen some striking work in picture book publishing. Tara’s gorgeous...

Read more

News