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Pratham Books 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.

In the last 3 years, we have invested deeply in technology based initiatives to further our mission. We are now looking for an experienced Product Manager that can lead our digital projects as we significantly scale these initiatives.

                                                                                                 

About the Digital Properties

Pratham Books has two digital platforms - StoryWeaver and Donate-a-Book. 

Storyweaver is a digital platform that hosts stories in languages from India and beyond, so that every child can have an endless stream of stories in her mother tongue to read and enjoy. The stories can be read, translated, versioned or downloaded for free. All stories on the platform are openly licensed and the goal is to open source the code as well. In just one year, StoryWeaver has scaled from 800 stories in 24 languages to 2800 stories in 59 languages by engaging with a community of users. We want every child to have access to quality reading resources in their own language. 

StoryWeaver is being recognized as an emerging innovation that can transform the early literacy reader ecosystem globally. Our vision is for StoryWeaver to be the largest multilingual open library in the world for children by empowering communities to address the scarcity of reading resources in their mother tongue languages and scale the quantity and quality of content being produced.

Donate-a-book from Pratham Books is a unique, crowdfunding platform that helps raise funds for organizations that want to build children's libraries.

Job Description                

We are looking for a passionate individual wanting to make a difference, one who believes that technology can be a powerful enabler in creating equitable access to resources. 

This role requires a seasoned manager and technologist who can work effectively, both independently and collaboratively, in a team environment and deliver the project in a timely manner within allocated resources and budgets. The Product Manager will play a strategic role in defining the product roadmap, translating it into detailed requirements and developing a roadmap for delivery. S/he will work closely with the domain, outreach and content teams to define the user requirements which will guide feature development. All aspects of managing the project including the RFP process, vendor selection, hiring of people, documentation and project delivery will be managed by the Product Manager.  

The position will report to the Head of Digital Projects but also requires working closely with the top management. In a 3 year time-frame the project outcomes are expected to scale by 10x and the Product Manager will play a critical role in ensuring  the smooth functioning of the platform at this scale. Most importantly the person needs to be an out-of-the box thinker and should be a strong believer and propagator of use of open technologies.

Responsibilities

• Understand the user requirements and define the product roadmap    

• Generate RFP’s and manage the process of technology vendor selection    

• Prepare the user stories, documentation and compile the platform requirement and workflow documents

• Scope and prioritize the product feature sets 

• Work closely with technology vendors on all aspects

• Ensure the project is done within the budgeted resources

• Optimize the user experience 

• Be an evangelist in the tech community to build awareness around the platform.

Mandatory Requirements

• BTech/MSc/MCA degree in Computer Science or related disciplines

• Proven work experience in product management 

• Strong technical background with hands-on experience in open source web and mobile technologies  

• Very good written and verbal communication skills

• 8 -10 years of experience 

Nice to have but not mandatory

• Experience working with non-profits.     

• Domain knowledge in publishing industry, Indic language experience     

Location: This role is based out of Bangalore and is full-time. The project is expected to complete within a 3 year time-frame.

Salary: Compensation will be commensurate with experience. 

Interested candidates are requested to send in their resume to [email protected]

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Most of StoryWeaver's digital-first books explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) topics in interesting and fun ways. Some of you may remember some of our amazing STEM titles from last year: 'How Old is Muttajji?', 'Jadav and the Tree-Place', 'Up World, Down World', 'Dum Dum-a-Dum Biryani!', etc. We’re happy to announce that these are also being printed early next year!

“This year, we’ve tried to create books that are simpler than last year, based on conversations with our outreach partners. Simpler does not mean easier, of course, and in many ways it has been more challenging. Fortunately, we’ve been working closely with some of the finest editors, writers, illustrators, art directors and translators who have helped us create a set of wonderful books. While the aim of each book is to inform and educate, the idea is also to nurture the innate sense of wonder in children and in turn, encourage them to explore further,” shares Yamini Vijayan, who anchors content creation for StoryWeaver. 

Exciting ideas through exciting partnerships

This year, we hope to widen the lens through which children look at the world around them, with stories that explore topics like space, types of houses, trash, seasonal food, subtraction, evolution, simple machines and even toilets! 

From author-illustrator Rajiv Eipe's book on simple machines

These books have been created in collaboration with 4 Guest Editors and 2 Art Directors. Award-winning author Roopa Pai has steered the books on math, Bijal Vachharajani – a journalist who writes on nature and the environment – has given shape and form to the books on environment, author-illustrator Vinayak Varma, former Editor and Art Director of Brainwave Magazine, has helped create fun science books and author-editor Payal Dhar has made technology and engineering appealing to young minds. With illustrations being such an integral aspect of these books, we were keen to involve experts in the field and so these books have been art-directed by talented illustrators Kaveri Gopalakrishnan and Vinayak Varma. We’re excited to say that some of the most promising authors and illustrators have contributed to the creation of these 20 titles. 

Priya Kuriyan brings Neema to life in vivid colours in 'What's Neema Eating Today?' by Bijal Vachharajani

In Math, we have books on subtraction, patterns of similarity and dissimilarity, division and estimation. Needless to say, all these have been explained through simple stories that show how we use math in our everyday lives and that it isn’t restricted to our textbooks alone. At Pratham Books, we have always realized how important it is to have conversations about the environment to children. This year, we have chosen to focus on trash, seasonal food, migration and earthquakes. Themes in science that we have decided to ‘storify’ are simple machines, virology, evolution and the lives of gharials. We’re certain that early readers will become more enthusiastic about science after reading these enchanting stories. You’d think that children’s stories on technology and engineering can get a bit boring. Well, you’ll change your mind when you read our stories on space, wheels, flying, types of houses and toilets. In addition to these STEM books, we have two moving stories on emotional intelligence, one on anger and the other on perseverance. 

Here's what we've digitally published so far:

Environment

What's Neema Eating Today? Neema loves to eat seasonally, and you will to now!

Science

Ammachi's Amazing Machines  How simple can simple machines be? Ammachi's here to teach you!

Apu's Giant Earthquake: what's causing those tremors?

Sniffles, in which a girl spreads her cold during a football match. 

Ghum-Ghum Gharial's Glorious Adventure, a young Gharial's adventure in the Ganga. 

Math

One by Two Share some biryani and gulab jamuns and learn a thing or two about fractions!

More or Less? Need to Guess! How many sweet boxes do the wedding guests need? Guestimation to the rescue!

I Spy! How many children are left at a birthday party? 

Same-same or different?, showing the friendship between a Sparrow and a Snake and also explaining the idea of sorting. 

Technology

Gul in Space: a girl explores outer space. 

In keeping with our commitment to creating good quality multilingual content for children, each of the 20 titles will be translated to Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Tamil. (Plus, don’t forget, on StoryWeaver you can translate the stories to a language YOU’RE fluent in and help us spread the joy of reading to even more children.) The development of these 100 books (20 titles in 5 languages) has been supported by Oracle.

 

To say that we’re excited about these new stories is an understatement! We cannot wait to share them with readers, young and old. Happy reading!

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This World Book Day, we wanted to share the power of books to inspire children to be lifelong readers. Our aim? In many languages, and from far flung places, to #GetChildrenReading.

According to the ASER 2022 survey, 80% of children in third grade cannot read at second grade level. Yet by reading for as little as 30 mins every day, a child’s reading age can improve by nearly two years. Keeping that in mind, our #GetChildrenReading initiative aims to nuture children to become lifelong readers, by providing an endless stream of stories and bringing together a community of advocates for the joy of reading.

This year’s World Book Day theme was indigenous languages. Our impact partners brought some wonderful storytellers to the children they work with in underserved and indigenous languages. Our partners in Africa, African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) was specially attracted to the book, 'Mouse in the House', by Soumya Rajendran and held a translation sprint to make the book accessible in Akuapem Twi, Luganda, Ewe, Krio and more… to be read across the public libraries of Africa. Our partners Suchana, in Birbhum West Bengal read aloud 'The Very Wiggly Tooth' to a group of children in Santhali, one of the two official tribal languages in the country, and Kora, which is deemed to be an endangered linguistic community by UNESCO.

Vilas Janve, a renowned mime artiste, and Upendra ‘Annu’ were invited to read aloud by Gayatri Seva Sansthan in Mewadi and Vagadi. Promod Sahu, a Social Entrepreneur read aloud 'What Neema is Eating Today' in Chhattisgarhi. You can watch the incredibly lively sessions, as well as storytelling sessions in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and English here.

For us, there is nothing more heartwarming than hearing children from Ghana and Kenya reading our stories in unison, or watching a child’s eye light up as he rushes to bring more of his friends on a sunday afternoon to listen to Seema Wahi’s animated reading of 'A Book for Puchku'.

Our aim however, is to make such moments an everyday occurrence. This celebration is a part of our ongoing #GetChildrenReading initiative, a six month long effort by StoryWeaver to bring together our partners, and the larger community of storytellers, parents, teachers and all those who believe in the power of reading to build the habit of reading in the lives of children around them. Find out more on how you can join us here.

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