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RAMENDRA KUMAR

Ramendra Kumar is an award-winning Indian children's writer who has also written for adults in a variety of genres including both fiction and non-fiction: satire, poetry, ghazals, travelogues, and relationship advice. As of December, 2024, his books published in English totaled 49, of which 18 were also available in Indian languages and 14 in foreign languages. He is also known as a storyteller, motivational speaker, and professional communicator.

When Kumar's life took an unexpected turn in 2021 with a diagnosis of Stage II colon cancer, he became increasingly known in India as a cancer warrior.

Early life

Born in Hyderabad, India, Kumar attended Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet.(WS About)

Broken family, attempted suicide.(WS About)

Father's praise of his poem at age 8.(CITE)

Commenced his writing career by writing satire and poetry for his school and college magazines and later for newspaper supplements.(WS About)

After earning a bachelor’s degree in Engineering and a master’s degree in Business Administration, he was hired as a junior manager of communications in the Public Relations Department of the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha. (WS About) His wife Madhavi was already working there.(CITE) Both rose to the positions of General Managers in their respective departments. (CITE)

Kumar's passion for writing dovetailed with his profession at the steel plant in communications.(WS About)

Early career

Kumar had a twofold impetus to begin writing in earnest:

• In 1995, a few political satires he had written landed him in trouble with his steel plant management, and he was forbidden to indulge in this genre of writing.(CITE)
• When a son was born to Kumar and his wife Madhavi around this same time, she asked him to read stories to their four-year-old daughter to keep her occupied so that she could take care of their newborn. FIX Kumar decided instead to share his own stories with the girl, and so began creating little tales. The stories she liked most went off to the editors and publishers. His first book for children, Just a Second and Other Stories, was published in 1997. (WS: About)

Writing FIX

Kumar's writings have been brought out by Penguin Random House; HarperCollins Publishers India; Hachette Book Group; Pratham Books; National Book Trust (NBT); Rupa Publications; Children's Book Trust (CBT); Navneet Publications; Readomania Publishing; Pauline Publications; Ponytale Books; Blue Pencil Publishers; and Pustak Mahal. (WS:About. Probably have to chop this list for the article.)

His stories have been included in eleven anthologies published by the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC), Vikas Publishing House, Pustak Mahal, Readomania Publishing, and Blue Pencil Publishers, as well as in the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series. They have also been published and reviewed in major newspapers, magazines, and e-zines.(WS:About)

For Children

To a question once asked by an interviewer about which genre was closest to his heart, Kumar responded: "I love writing for children and spending time with them. I feel the only way I can contribute my mite to the society is to reach out to children with stories, which not only entertain but also inspire and elevate. Writing for children has taught me that the only way to be happy is to be like them. I adore the young ones for their innocence and straight-from-the-heart response."

"I write stories that are in the ‘Here-and-Now’ genre. The writing is set in the present and addresses contemporary values and concerns. The kids in my stories are ordinary children, who face extraordinary circumstances with guts and empathy. I ensure that the tales are fast-paced, with a dash of humour to retain the interest of the effervescent minds. Each story has a value, subtly tucked in somewhere, as a takeaway for the child."

Since then, he has concentrated mainly on children’s fiction and non-fiction for all age groups. His themes are varied, including humour, fables, folk tales, fantasy, realistic fiction, and biography. He has also written in several alternative formats such as picture books for tiny tots, comic books for older children, and kamishibai, a traditional form of storytelling in Japan, and a number of his stories are also on podcasts.(CITE)

Three of Kumar ’s books—Boond, A Tale of Tails, and We Are Different (a picture book)—individually garnered sales of over 260,000 copies in 2021-2022, going into many reprints. All have also been chosen for the Government of India's Samagra Shiksha Programme in many states. These books have been published in several Indian languages; and one, A Tale of  Tails, has been translated into a critically endangered language spoken by the nomadic Birhor community, an Adivasi forest people.

Thirty-four of Kumar'’s children’s stories have been included in textbooks:

• Six of his children’s books have been recommended by India's Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) as supplementary readers: Boond; Now or Never; Paplu the Giant; The Royal Sweeper; A Tale of Tails; and We Are Different.
• Several of his children’s stories have also been published in foreign textbooks: “Internet in the Jungle” in a textbook for Grade 5 students in Sri Lanka (translated into Sinhala), and “The Spirit of Diwali” in a textbook for Grade 9 students in Norway.

Paplu the Giant has come to particular prominence among Indian children’s stories. In 2013 it was selected by its publisher, Pratham Books, for storytelling sessions with narration of the book provided by volunteers to mark International Literacy Day—which is celebrated annually on September 8—in more than 25 languages in twenty-seven states across India and abroad.

Kumar’s storytelling extends beyond conventional print format.

• Three of his books have come out in the comic book format: A Special Act—A Comic Book on the POCSO Act. (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012); the Juvenile Justice Act (Care and Protection of Children), 2006, which was endorsed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); and What, Why and How? Diabetes, A Common Non-Communicable Disease.
• His story “The Wise Kanhu” has been adapted as kamishibai, a traditional form of storytelling in Japan.
• Seventeen of his children’s stories have been featured as podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Gaana, Gaathastory, JioSaavn, and Spotify.

For adults

Kumar has dabbled in writing for adult audiences: fiction and non-fiction stories, travelogues, articles on relationships and parenting, along with satire, poetry, and ghazals (a verse form of Arabic origin about romantic love and loss). Kumar’s life, filled as it has been with extraordinary challenges from childhood onward, is often reflected in his writing through underdog characters who similarly draw on qualities of resilience, optimism, empathy, and a never-say-die spirit.(CITE)

Mohini, his first book for adults, is a romantic thriller portraying the struggle of a young woman from working as an “extra” in Hindi films to becoming the top Bollywood heroine. The first edition of the book was sold out during the first week of its release, and remained on the Amazon Bestseller list for months.

His first non-fiction book for adults, Effective Parenting: A New Paradigm—based entirely on his hands-on experience—received excellent response in both its print and e-avatars and is currently in its second reprint."What makes the book interesting is it comes from a father rather than a mother" ... "a hands-on approach to parenting" ..."unstructured and there is a free flow of words, ideas and experiences" ... "full of anecdotes, quotes, poems and short stories." WORK ON

His book Inteha: Ghazal and Geet (in Hindi) also found an appreciative audience, especially for two of the ghazals that were produced as music videos. Kumar has also written several travelogues, articles on relationships and parenting issues, and satires on various themes, published both online and offline.

He has also authored articles on literature that have been included in various anthologies.

Participation in literary fests, conferences, and seminars FIX

Kumar's presentations include a paper entitled “Here and Now Writing: An Indian Paradigm,” about a genre of writing that focuses on realistic direct experience and the present, at the 31st International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) World Congress held in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2008; a paper entitled “The Brave New World of Indian Children’s Literature” at the 36th IBBY World Congress held in Athens, Greece, 2018, at which he also chaired two sessions; and papers on themes focusing on children’s literature, including ones organized by the National Book Trust (NBT) (April, 2009); Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) (September, 2012); and Sahitya Akademi (January, 2018).

Kumar was chosen as the resident author for National Book Trust’s (NBT) “author-illustrator workshop” held in Goa, 2012, and as a jury member in the Best Children’s Author category of the 2019 AutHer jointly sponsored by JK Paper and The Times of India to celebrate and encourage contributions of female writers. WHERE?

He also took part in the Bhubaneswar Festival of Storytelling (BhuFeSto) (January, 2018; January, 2019); Bookaroo Festival of Children’s Literature (May, 2011; November, 2012; April, 2016; September, 2017); Chandigarh Children's Literature Festival (April, 2016); Hyderabad Literary Festival (January, 2019); Jaipur Literature Festival (January, 2018); Kalinga Literary Festival (June, 2018); and Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (April, 2019).

Awards

Kumar's writing for children has won 34 prizes in various categories  for his stories in the Competition for Writers of Children’s Books organized by the Children's Book Trust (CBT) over the years. He was also felicitated by the writers and publishers of Sri Lanka for making a significant contribution to children’s literature in 2017.

His writing for adults received the Dr. Kashi Nath Bakaya Memorial Award for Humorous Writing in 2021 for Chronicles of a Corporate Executive.

Kumar also received the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) “Hall of Fame” award in 2020, one of the highest recognitions for public relations professionals in India.

Cancer warrior

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