Jumpstart: Forum for Children’s Content

The Frankfurt Book Fair and the German foreign ministry created the German Book Office (GBO) in New Delhi as an international extension of the world’s largest trade forum for books. GBO launched Jumpstart, a forum for children’s content, a new hub for the burgeoning children’s book and content market in India.

I curated two editions of Jumpstart (2012, 2013) along with writer and publisher Anita Roy. We created a diverse meeting place, that brought together hundreds of professionals and people engaged in the world of children's content - Publishers, Booksellers, Writers, Illustrators, Designers, Teachers, Librarians, Storytellers, Policy Makers - everyone working with, and interested in working for children's content.

We curated a festival that featured panels on language, translation and bi-lingualism, cultural hegemony, new media platforms, animation, the role of libraries, industry panels on foreign rights sales, marketing workshops and masterclasses with illustrators and writers.

Speakers included luminaries such as Anushka Ravishankar, Paro Anand, Sampurna Chatterji and Manisha Chaudhry from India, and internationally renowned illustrators like Emily Gravett and Hervé Tullet.

A notable feature was the ‘Book Souk’ where authors pitched manuscript ideas to a host of publishers including Egmont, Yoda, HarperCollins, Hachette India, Penguin, Duckbill, Tulika, Katha, Pratham Books, Young Zubaan and Dorling Kindersley.