Manorama Jafa facts for kids

Manorama Jafa is a famous Indian writer. She has written over 100 books for children. She also writes novels for grown-ups and does research about children's books.

She has held important roles in groups that support writers and illustrators for children. She also worked with the International Board on Books for Young People. Manorama Jafa received the Padma Shri award in 2014. This is a high honor from the Indian government. In 2016, she received the Order of the Rising Sun from Japan.

Early Life and Learning

Manorama Jafa was born in 1932.

She earned a master's degree in Geography from the University of Allahabad. Later, she studied how to write for children at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Writing Career

Manorama Jafa started writing in the late 1960s. At first, she wrote for local newspapers. Soon, she began creating stories for children. Her first children's book was Donkey on the Bridge.

Some of her other popular children's books include The Parrot and the Mynah, Laughing Parrot, and The Ladybird and the Butterfly. These stories often teach about important values like unity.

She has also written special books for children with unique needs. For example, I am Sona was inspired by a trip to South Africa. It helps children who have HIV. Her book Toru Nanu and Hipu was written for children who lost their parents after the Indian Ocean tsunami. People have called her a pioneer in children's literature in India. This means she was one of the first to write great children's books in English there.

In 2011, a newspaper called The Hindu said that Manorama Jafa had been working for decades to create better books for Indian children. In 1976, she started holding workshops to help other writers create children's literature. She has also written many research papers on this topic.

Manorama Jafa helped start the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC). She worked with the famous cartoonist Shankar Pillai to create it. She also led AWIC's Children's Literacy Project. She wrote a book called Writing For Children to help people learn how to write for young readers. She also edited the AWIC magazine, Writer and Illustrator. By 2006, she was leading the Khaas Kitaab Foundation, which publishes children's books.

From 1999 to 2001, she was a judge for the UNESCO prize for children's books. She also worked with the Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO as their children's book expert. She helped judge other important book awards too.

Around 2010, she started "Book Therapy." This project helps children who have been through difficult times. It gives books to kids in places like Afghanistan and parts of India affected by the tsunami. She has also worked as a consultant for the Children's Book Trust and the National Book Trust.

Manorama Jafa is the General Secretary of the Indian section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). She was the chairperson for the 26th IBBY Congress in 1998. She even invited Empress Michiko of Japan to speak at this event. She has met with Empress Michiko several times to discuss children's literature.

Her husband, Shri Virendra Singh Jafa, donated a special collection of her works to Ashoka University. This collection includes books about children's literature, some of her letters, and her Hindi novels for adults. In 2020, she donated many of her books to help thousands of children through different organizations.

Awards and Honors

In 2014, Manorama Jafa received the Padma Shri from the Government of India. This is one of India's highest civilian awards. In 2016, she was given the Order of the Rising Sun by Japan. This is Japan's highest award for civilians. Her Hindi novel Devika won the Sahitya Kriti Samman from Hindi Academy, Delhi, in 2008.

See also

• International Board on Books for Young People