Ramendra Kumar is an award-winning writer for children and young adults. He also dabbles in satire, poetry, fiction and travelogues. 21 books written by him have so far been brought out by well known names such as Rupa & Co., Pratham Books, National Book Trust (NBT), Navneet, Children's Book Trust (CBT), Vikas Publishing House, et al.
RRamen's work has been published and reviewed in major newspapers and magazines and translated into several Indian languages as well as Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, Mongolian and Sinhala. One of his stories has been included in the text book for class nine students of Norway and another fable has been adapted as Kamishibai, the traditional form of story telling in Japan. Tales penned by him have also found a place in the school text books in
India as well as abroad. His stories, poems and satires have been included in several national and international anthologies including the popular 'Chicken Soup for the Soul Series'. His latest book for young adults 'Now or Never' has been recommended by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), India, as a Supplementary Reader for classes 7 & 8.
Ramen is a much sought after speaker on 'Here and Now' and 'Heritage Writing' as well as an inspirational speaker and storyteller for children. He is also the editor of www.bolokids.com, a New York based website.
Ramen had the rare honour of presenting a paper at the 31st IBBY World Congress-2008 held in Copenhagen, Denmark in the second week of September, 2008. The paper won rave reviews and accolades both for the substance as well as the style of presentation. Ramen had gone on an invitation by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) to address the Congress which was attended by writers, publishers, illustrators and research scholars from 71 countries across the globe.'
In his paper titled "Here and Now Writing: An Indian Paradigm", Ramen drew upon the Jagannath Cult and explained how its values and ideals can be skillfully synergized with the modern day concerns to fashion and sculpt a literature which is enduring, endearing and eternal. The multi-ethnic audience was impressed by the fact that Ramen could dovetail an ancient tradition with contemporary issues to present a paradigm which was fresh and vibrant.
Ramen presented a story at the Story Telling Festival which was organized as a part of the conference. Later, he was invited by a Public School in Denmark to conduct a Creative Writing Workshop for its students.
In October 2009, the writer had the pleasure and privilege of conducting a story telling session for the children of Doon Holm Catholic School in Nairobi, Kenya. He was wondering whether he would be able to connect with the children, but to his delight he and the kids achieved a sublime synergy leading to a rocking, rollicking ninety minutes of sheer, unadulterated fun.
The writer presented a paper at the National Seminar on Traditions of Folk in Literature organized by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in September 2010. The paper which focused on the relevance of the Jagannath Cult in modern children's fiction received an encouraging response from the elite audience which included Shri Manoj Das.
Over the last couple of years the author has become a regular at the leading children's literature festivals in the country including Bookaroo, the most happening of them all! An Engineer and an MBA, Ramen is working as Deputy General Manager and Chief of Communications, Rourkela Steel Plant, Orissa, India.
To know more about the writer you can check him out on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramendra_Kumar)
His email ids are 25ramendra@gmail.com and ramendra_k@yahoo.com |
