Santhini Govindan facts for kids

Santhini Govindan is an Indian author who writes amazing books for children in English. She writes all sorts of things, like poems, picture books, and short stories for kids of every age. Her books have even been translated into many different Indian languages!

Santhini has also written articles and stories for children's magazines and big newspapers in India and other countries. She loves to help young writers, so she has led creative writing workshops for kids in schools across Mumbai and other cities. She even taught creative writing to college students at Mumbai University.

Early Life and Education

Santhini Govindan was born far away in San Francisco, California, in the United States. Her father was a diplomat, which means his job was to represent India in other countries. Because of his work, Santhini lived in many different places while growing up!

She went to international schools in Prague (which was then in Czechoslovakia), Bern, Switzerland, and Colombo, Sri Lanka. In 1977, she finished her first college degree in economics from the University of Madras in India. Then, in 1979, she earned a master's degree in English literature.

Becoming a Writer

Santhini's journey as a writer began when she won a special prize! She entered a competition for children's book writers, organized by the Children's Book Trust in New Delhi. Her story, "A Tale of Tuffy Turtle," won an award, and that's how her writing career took off.

Awards and Special Projects

Santhini has received many special awards and grants to help her write. In 1996, she got a two-year Junior Fellowship in Literature from the Indian government. This helped her write historical fiction short stories for children. Later, she received a Senior Fellowship to research "Children's Literature in English in India."

In 2001, Santhini was the first Indian writer to be invited to a special workshop for writers called the Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop in New York, USA. She also worked with Highlights for Children, a famous children's magazine, to create guides for parents and teachers.

From 1987 to 2016, Santhini won twenty more awards for her stories in different categories and for different age groups from the Children's Book Trust competition.

In 2018, she received a special two-year Lok Sabha Research Fellowship from the Parliament of India. This important project allowed her to write a book for children and teenagers. The book explains how the Parliament of India works and what its role is.

Books and Stories

Santhini wrote two columns for two years in a monthly children's magazine called Chandamama. She wrote about historical fiction and mythology until the magazine stopped publishing in 2013.

One of her books, The Anger of Apsu, was even recommended by the NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) for young readers in grades 3 and 4. Santhini has also written several books about Indian history for children. These include It Happened 5000 Years Ago, which is about the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. She also wrote Asoka’s Diary and The Magical Maratha, which is about the famous Maratha king Shivaji.

In 2019, she published another children's book called The Magic of Curly Whorly.

Personal Life

Santhini Govindan is married to K. M. Govindan. She has a son and a daughter. Today, she lives and works in Mumbai, India.