Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1.5 billion children and youth are out of school. With this, the need for reading materials for children that can be accessed at home, is more urgent than ever. StoryWeaver is collaborating with UNHCR, UNESCO, The Global Digital Library, The Global Book Alliance, The Asia Foundation and Learning Equality, to call for translation volunteers to accelerate the creation of multilingual digital reading material via the #TranslateAStory campaign.

You can participate in this campaign by volunteering to translate on StoryWeaver. It’s easy!

Step 1: Find the book that's just right for you

StoryWeaver has over 1000 high quality books to translate from.  A simple Level 1 book usually takes under 20 minutes to publish on StoryWeaver. You can also choose to translate books from 60 languages, like English, Hindi, French, Spanish, Thai, and many more.

Looking for some inspiration for which storybooks to translate? We’ve put together a list of books here, which includes wonderful books like Incredible Insects: A Counting Book, Bobo and the Worms, The Runaway Pig, Ira Investigates the Invisible, and several others.

And if the book you have selected has already been translated - no problem! The StoryWeaver recommendation engine will share some more options for you to choose from.

Step 2: Translate - Online or Offline!

The StoryWeaver Translate tool supports translation into 234 languages, and has a Dictionary to help you choose the appropriate words for your translation. Have a limited Internet connection? We are still here for you! You can save the book to your Offline Translate Library and sync when you have connectivity.  

Here is a step-by-step guide on using the StoryWeaver Translate tool. 

Can’t find your language? Have some queries? Write to [email protected] or review our FAQ page.

Step 3: Publish & Share

As soon as you hit publish, your storybook will be published under New Arrivals. Don't forget to share your storybook with your friends. And of course build your author profile!

Join the #TranslateAStory campaign: TRANSLATE NOW

By submitting your translation to StoryWeaver, you are agreeing to a CC-BY 4.0 license being applied to it. Terms and conditions apply. 

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Pratham Books (www.prathambooks.org) is a not-for-profit children's book publisher that was set up in 2004 to publish good quality, affordable books in many Indian languages. Our mission is to see ‘a book in every child’s hand’ and we have spread the joy of reading to millions of children in India. As a publisher serving every child in India, Pratham Books has always pushed the boundaries when it comes to exploring innovative ways in which to create access to joyful storybooks and have been fortunate in finding partners to collaborate with who share this vision.

In 2015, Pratham Books increased its footprint by going digital. As an industry leader, we were one of the first publishers in the country to openly license our content. All this content is now available on StoryWeaver, which is a digital platform that hosts books in languages from India and beyond, so that every child can have an endless stream of storybooks in her mother tongue to read and enjoy. The platform contains easy-to-use tools to read online and offline, create and translate books. All the books on the platform are openly licensed.

We are looking for a Social Media Manager for StoryWeaver

The role involves developing and implementing strategic engagement initiatives by building and sustaining relationships with multiple stakeholders, and advocating the brand across a variety of social networks.

Illustration by Sayan Mukherjee, for Catch a Ride on Raindrops written by Anjali Vaidya, published by Pratham Books.

Key Responsibilities:

Responsible for all social media handles for StoryWeaver, engaging with and growing our audiences, and contributing towards building StoryWeaver’s brand and visibility. This includes:

• Managing the social media content calendar

• Implementing and Creating campaign promotion and documentation videos

• Implementing paid digital marketing initiatives

• Distributing the brand’s content across a variety of different social networks, and the StoryWeaver Blog.  

• Documenting the use cases of a diverse group of stakeholders from non-profits, community groups, authors, illustrators, publishers, children, parents, etc.

• Using Analytics and other measurement tools to provide reports on metrics, and continually find ways to improve on those metrics through testing and new initiatives.

Required skills

• 3-4 years of experience in social media management

• Familiar with the latest technology, trends and analytics in social media

• Project management, ability to work with tight timelines

• Eye for detail

Nice to have but not mandatory:

• Previous experience in Sales/ Marketing/ Public Relations

• Video skills

Location: 

This is a full-time position and is based out of Bangalore

Compensation: 

Salary will be commensurate with qualification and experience.

Write to us:

Email your resume with ‘Social Media Manager - StoryWeaver’ in the subject line to [email protected]

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Fahad Faizal, illustrator and animator, has illustrated two books - Unni's Wish and Fly in Space for Pratham Books this year. 

He started drawing at the age of three and hasn’t stopped since. He is married to Sunaina, his classmate from NID, and they work together from their cozy home-studio in Kochi calling it BABAKIKI. Fahad is a foodie, he loves cycling and tending to the plants in his balcony garden. But what he loves the most is playing with his son, Orhan.

 

 

Read Assistant Editor Zeba Imtiaz's interview with Fahad to learn more about his illustration process, approach, and inspiration.

You illustrated two books for Pratham Books this year. What excites you about illustrating children’s books?

The sheer act of drawing always excites me. It is a good break from animation, which is fundamentally the main thing we do. Unlike animation here I get to spend more time on one image. Exploring the details is always fun.

How did you decide your approach for each of these books?

I did Unni's Wish first. I really liked that story because I was able to relate to it somehow. And to add to that I took a trip to this place called Wagamon and stayed in a house like the one I drew. That was fun. I always enjoyed drawing black and white images. Just with shades of grey you can add a lot of depth and it’s not that common to see children's book in Black & White. The story supported it.

Fly in Space on the other hand, I took a different route of flat colours. In fact, fly as a character is something I did recently in an indie comic called Autobiografly. Though that was not exactly for kids. But here I tried to keep it simple. Even this story was really inspiring. I believe the concept is the king.

Do you think there’s a difference between illustrating for children and adults?

Fundamentally, there is not much difference between illustrating for adults or children! For both, it's the child in me who is drawing. The content makes the difference. Being a father of a 2 year old I think sometimes we underestimate kids. They are way more intelligent than us.

You have created some absolutely wonderful and memorable characters in your stories. Could you tell us more about the process for creating these characters?

Like I mentioned the story was my base, then I gathered all my memories of being a Malayali boy, and to add to that, the trip to Wagamon really helped. There we met a boy who helped us get back to our cottage through the coffee and cardamom farm. Putting all these together I drew Unni, a boy with little over grown curly hair, who wears an oversized shirt, who looks a bit like my son. What we are exposed to, is what we are.

For Fly in Space again like I mentioned the fly as a character is something I have been working on from my previous work. I tried to keep up the age.

 

 

Your visual narratives contain a distinct sense of humour. Is this something you consciously do?

Being in Kerala I am exposed to lots of uncensored humour. I think that is very important to be able to think free. I tried to be there in each of the frames I drew, say if it's Unni enjoying the wind from fan or drinking chilled lime juice. I was aware of what I drew by might not be with too much planning.

You run a studio called Babakiki along with your wife Sunaina Coelho, also an illustrator and animator. What sort of projects interest you?

We are interested in working on socially relevant projects. Anything that gives us an opportunity to create something new: idea-wise or technique-wise. We believe animation and illustration is a very strong medium that can communicate universally.

What do you most enjoy drawing?

That is tricky question! That’s like asking a foodie what you enjoy about eating. From time to time I immerse myself in studying anatomy, small details of structures or imaginary creatures inspired from what is there in nature. It is all connected.

How did you decide that you wanted to be an artist?

It's the other-way around, the artist decided to be me. I just went along. The sheer act of drawing always excites me.

You can read Unni's Wish and Fly in Space for free on StoryWeaver in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, English, and Kannada.

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