Paro Anand

‘A fearless writer and performance storyteller with a big heart’ best describes Paro Anand, who was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar Award in 2017 for Wild Child and Other Stories (now published as Like Smoke with additional content) and the Takshila Srijanpeeth Fellowship in 2020-21. She was invited to speak at the Harvard India Conference hosted at the Harvard Kennedy School. Recognized internationally and locally, including by former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, she has headed the National Centre for Children’s Literature; interacted with over three lakh people, primarily children in difficult circumstances; and now runs a programme called Literature in Action.

Translated into German and Spanish, No Guns at My Son’s Funeral was on the IBBY Honour List. The Little Bird Who Held the Sky Up with His Feet was featured in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up, which is an international gold standard of the world’s best children’s literature. Her book, Being Gandhi, brings Gandhian values front and centre into contemporary children’s lives. She received the Kalinga Karubaki Literary Award for Fearless Women Writers in 2019 and was selected by BBC Hindi for their #100Women Project, a project highlighting the challenges and achievements of women in India. She has a podcast called Literature in Action on Hubhopper.