When you started Tulika in 1996, Indian children’s books were fairly conventional, both in terms of language and the stories being told. What do you think was missing at the time?

The stories often lacked a sense of contemporaneity—in their contexts, tone, and narrative approach. There was a certain conventionality and predictability, with myths, folk tales, and moral stories dominating. That said, some of the finest picture books, even today, remain the early ones published by the NBT [National Book Trust], created by masters such as Mickey Patel and Pulak Biswas. As some of the first picture books in Indian languages, they were historic. They were a part of the NBT’s nation-building mandate across languages. Unfortunately, this momentum did not last long.

Tulika drew inspiration from these pioneering works, seeking to resist the universalising tendencies of Western children’s books, which tend to apply Western cultural norms on readers everywhere. Instead, we explored ways of rooting stories and illustrations in local contexts, languages, and visual traditions.

India is a multilingual country. Most children grow up hearing stories in one language and are then expected to read in another, usually English. When you began publishing the same book in multiple Indian languages, did you encounter the bias towards English in the publishing industry?

English is a postcolonial legacy deeply embedded in our cultural fabric. It remains closely tied to an education system that continues to prioritise English-medium learning even though the majority of children study in government schools in regional languages. Access and privilege tend to flow top-down, beginning with English, and publishing as a business largely caters to this economically advantaged segment.

While colonial rule formally ended, many of its institutions and systems not only persisted but also flourished. Like English- language publishing, with major British publishers continuing to operate and thrive in India. This is a model that Indian publishers went on to adopt in many ways.

What shaped your idea of what a children’s book should be? Were there specific stories, oral traditions, or even gaps in what you had read yourself that informed your choice of books?

Not necessarily. It was more about addressing the gaps in Indian children’s books. I felt this very strongly in my teaching days, when I regularly used books in the classroom, and Indian books often seemed to fall short. I found myself drawn to Western books, which seemed to open up so much more for the reader.

When we began publishing, the focus was on bringing in fresh perspectives and new approaches to storytelling, illustration, writing, and translation—to create books that reflected the contemporary Indian reality.

When it comes to diversity in children’s publishing, it often seems more like a label than a real shift. What do you think?

Diversity in children’s books can often become a label. On the positive side, it has led to greater awareness, and while the change is slow, it is happening. This shift is visible less in who is writing and illustrating and more in the themes being explored. Even here, however, the focus tends to remain on more acceptable and acknowledged themes such as class, disability, physical appearance, and gender within a boy-girl framework. Far fewer books move beyond this to include gender-fluid and diverse identities, which are more challenging to represent. Caste, too, remains significantly under-represented in children’s literature. The discomfort around such themes often reflects adult biases.

The question of who is writing for whom remains complex, particularly in English-language publishing. More often than not, stories are written by those who are outside the communities they write about rather than by insiders. Yet, some powerful books published by Tulika are written by “outsiders”: these are books that foster deep empathy and understanding in young readers. Good writers can, and do, write beyond their own identities. Consulting sensitivity readers, along with careful editing, can help ensure credibility and understanding.

Tulika publications are designed to reflect contemporary reality. | Photo Credit: By Special Arrangement

Children today are surrounded by screens, short-form videos, and algorithm-driven content. Do you think the idea of a child is slowly shifting from reader to consumer? And, in that environment, how does an independent publisher like Tulika hold its ground?

Without doubt, children are transitioning from traditional readers to active consumers of digital content, shaped by the digital environment they are growing up in. At the same time, printed books offer a sensory experience which draws children right from when they are babies. As they grow, books remain as integral to their reading lives as screens, making the shift between the two largely seamless.

This holds true for economically disadvantaged children as well. With their simplicity and ease of access—requiring no technological support—books often become the ideal entry point at a young age into the world of stories. Giving them better stories becomes the key, ones that spark the imagination and create a sense of wonder through words and pictures. That, in turn, becomes both the inspiration and the challenge for publishers like us.

We now have e-books, audiobooks, and interactive formats. Do these expand how children experience stories, or do they change something more fundamental about reading itself, especially when it comes to picture books?

As a publisher, my bias is towards printed books. Good picture books offer a richly textured sensory experience, and the visual culture they open up is foundational to intellectual development. These considerations shape the creation of children’s books.

While digital formats do expand certain aspects of the reading experience, they can also distract young readers, as attention often shifts from the narrative to the technology itself. Digital books frequently carry embedded marketing imperatives: they need to be entertaining, attention-grabbing, and interactive at the click of a button. Physical books are inherently interactive, but theirs is an interactivity that nurtures the imagination.

Children today are growing up in a cultural space that is wired, connected, and constantly interactive. In an ideal world, the richly textured experience of reading books can exist alongside digital engagement, with each complementing and strengthening the other.

It has been three decades since Tulika began this multilingual experiment. When you look at children’s publishing in India today, do you feel the industry has moved closer to what you imagined? Or do the same hierarchies, especially around language and access, persist?

If you look at the larger picture, there have been encouraging shifts, particularly in the space of regional-language books. Schools, independent book stores, regional book fairs, and curated reading lists have all helped bring greater attention to books in different Indian languages.

Unexpectedly, the growth of digital content for children has also given a boost to Indian-language content. In the digital space, there is clear evidence of rising demand for Indian-language content: across e-books, audiobooks, podcasts, and interactive formats. While English continues to dominate, there is a steady and visible expansion of content in regional languages alongside it. However, challenges around access and visibility in the market persist. At their root lies the long-standing prioritisation of English in education.

We are now at a moment where AI can generate both text and illustrations. Do you see AI as a useful tool, or does it risk flattening originality and the role of human creators?

It is within the creative space of children’s books that the voices of writers and illustrators have their greatest impact. Books play a powerful role in shaping how children perceive and understand the world. Words and pictures that enrich the child’s world come through the creators’ particular experiences and thoughts. The choices made by them—what to show, what to say, and how to say it—have significant and long-lasting consequences in children’s lives.

While writers and illustrators bring a depth of lived experience and intentionality to their work, AI-created books are shaped by patterns and probabilities within the existing data it uses. However appealing such books may be, there is the danger of the narratives becoming flattened representations. If children are exposed predominantly to this, there is a risk that their imaginative world becomes uniform, less attuned to ambiguity and cultural nuance, taking away the invaluable richness and depth of imaginative experience offered by physical books.