Nabaneeta Dev Sen honoured with Big Little Book Award

A first-of-its-kind initiative in India, the Big Little Book Award seeks to recognise and honour authors and illustrators who have contributed to children's literature that are global in appeal and contextual in nature.

The award has been instituted under Parag initiative of Tata Trusts to promote children's literature.

"The award would be focussing on one Indian language every year. Last year it was Marathi, this year Bengali," the organisers said in a statement.

Sen, recipient of the Sahitya Academy Award and the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award, has been writing for children as well as general readers for the past three decades.

She has explored a wide range of human

emotions in some of her bestsellers such as Thikana, Sabda Pare Tapurtupur, Urala, Naba-Nita.

"In today's world, books are vying for attention of the present generation as technology and other recreational activities like music are taking precedence over a more conventional form - reading," Sen said.

It's important to encourage publishers to invest their time and energies in children's literature, she said, adding that she was thrilled to receive this honour.

Among the nominees for this year's award were Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Amarendra Chakrovorty and Kartik Ghosh.

In the illustrator category, Proiti Roy received the honour. Her volume of work includes illustrations in translated fairy tale books. The illustrators' entries, however, were not limited to any language.

The chief of Parag Initiative, Swaha Sahoo, said, "Bengali literature has a legacy. There is huge body of quality work in that language."