Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India:
Indian publishing house Karadi Tales and the education firm Karadi Path, have been shortlisted for three London Book Fair International Excellence Awards this year. The awards, which are in their sixth edition, are held by the London Book Fair in partnership with the UK Publishers Association. According to the London Book Fair’s press release, the shortlisted publishers and individuals represent “the best publishing ambassadors, innovative publishing, and ground-breaking initiatives in the industry.”
29 countries are represented in this year’s shortlist, and all three shortlists from India are from the Karadi Company. Karadi Tales has been shortlisted for Audiobook Publisher of the Year, the other nominee being Penguin Random House, USA. Karadi Path has been shortlisted in two categories: the Education Initiative Award and the Educational Learning Resources Award. This is the second consecutive year Karadi Tales has been shortlisted for Audiobook Publisher of the Year. Karadi Path is the only organization that is shortlisted for awards in two categories.
“Karadi Tales was born out of a need for high-quality children’s audiobooks in India. We believe in setting the bar high, be it with music, narration, art or writing, and are thrilled to have been shortlisted for the Audiobook Publisher of the Year Award. When we began 24 years ago with no publishing background, we just wanted to create the kind of books our own children wanted, and it’s a wonderful feeling to know that our contribution is continuing to make a difference,” says Shobha Viswanath, co-founder and Publishing Director, Karadi Tales. “We come from a land with a long history of storytelling. Karadi Tales uses the aural and visual traditions of India to create a powerful storytelling experience for children,” adds Narayan Parasuram, co-founder of Karadi Tales.
Karadi Path, an education firm co-founded by C.P. Viswanath, has been recognised by yet another panel of international experts for its revolutionary approach to English language learning. “Karadi Path has evolved a natural pedagogy drawing from India’s unique experience of multilingualism. The child is made to intuitively predict language with the use of body, space, mime and music. Over half a million children, including first generation learners in tribal schools, use this methodology to learn English at a functional level in just 96 hours. To be shortlisted in the Education Initiative category and Educational Learning Resources category by London Book Fair is a validation of over two decades of research and work,” he says.
Karadi Tales was founded in 1996 to address the lack of children’s audiobooks in India, and is a pioneer and industry leader in the segment. With celebrity narrators such as Gulzar, Naseeruddin Shah, Rahul Dravid, Girish Karnad and Vidya Balan, its audiobooks comprise professionally performed music, sound effects and page turn cues, and are accompanied by books with vibrant illustrations featuring a variety of artistic styles.
Karadi Tales’ picture books have received numerous Indian and international awards such as The Hindu Young World Goodbooks Award, the Comic Con India Award, the Dr Toy Award, and the Jarul Children’s Choice Award. Its titles have been featured on the New York Public Library’s Best Children’s Books lists, the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) List of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program, and the Amelia Bloomer Project. Karadi Tales titles have been translated into several languages all over the world.
About Karadi Path Education Company
Founded in 2010, Karadi Path Education Company is a social innovation enterprise that creates an English environment for classrooms, rich in Indian experiences, to help children learn the language through a process of discovery. With over 20 years of research, the Karadi Path pedagogy is now being used in 3000+ schools by over half a million children, many of whom are first generation learners from tribal backgrounds.
Karadi Path has been identified by Project Literacy Lab, San Francisco, USA, as one of the top 16 educational innovations in the world with an ability to close the global literacy gap by 2030. It has also won the USAID Early Grade Reading Innovation Challenge (EGRIC) for being the best language learning innovation in India, and the Millennium Alliance Award for being India’s foremost language learning solution. The latter grant is bestowed by USAID, the UK Government, FICCI, the Technology Development Board of the Government of India and the World Bank Group.
