Kinder Katha
 Bangalore

Kinder katha_open call 2022 © Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan

Call for proposals: Kinder Katha

Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore in collaboration with Navakarnataka Publications invites proposals for publishing children's books in Kannada under the Kinder Katha project.

Kinder Katha has been conceptualized by the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore to support the creation of Children's literature in regional languages. Organizing workshops, symposiums, book discussions, and providing support to publishers are among the activities of this project.

As part of the latest initiative, the project is now inviting applications from interested authors and illustrators for an opportunity to create new books for children in Kannada. 

Under this program, Navakarnataka Publications would be publishing twenty titles of children's books in print form. Out of these, ten would be picture books for children in the age group of 6-12 years, and ten would be storybooks meant for the age group of 12-16 years.

The primary focus of this program will be on topics in which not many children's books have been published (e.g. social issues, children's rights, diversity and inclusion, representation of the downtrodden, agriculture, environment, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, health, and the specialties of Karnataka).

Interested authors are invited to submit a summary of the proposed book (in about 250 words for picture books and 500 words for storybooks, including the name, subject, and brief introduction of the book) as well as their profile describing their work in the field of children's literature. 

Proposed books should touch upon these topics preferably in the form of fiction, and at a level suitable for the intended age group. The book should not have been published previously, or should not be a compilation of previously published write-ups.

Similarly, illustrators are required to submit at least five illustrations written for children, along with their profile. In the case of already published illustrations, information about the publication should also be included. 

The proposal, profile, and illustrations should be sent to kinderkatha-bangalore@goethe.de on or before 31.1.2022. Only digital copies of the proposal and illustrations are accepted. 

If the submitted summary is selected, the author would be required to send the full manuscript of the book within the next 30 days. Illustrators will be contacted to create appropriate illustrations for those manuscripts. Such authors and illustrators would be paid an honorarium.

The decision of the editorial committee would be final regarding the selection process.