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. 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 stories 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 open license our content. All this content is now available on StoryWeaver, which 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.

Illustration by Tanvi Bhat from Best Foot Forward by Rustom Dadachanji

We are looking for a Communication Manager for Storyweaver
 
The role involves developing and implementing strategic engagement initiatives by advocating the brand and building relationships across a variety of social networks, as well as being responsible for documentation,  marketing communications and stakeholder engagement. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Responsible for all the social media handles for StoryWeaver
  • Design and implement social media strategy to align with brand goals
  • Generate, edit, publish and share engaging content daily across all social media handles ( F/B, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Blog etc)
  • Manage and liaison with the Digital Marketing Agency. 
  • 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. 
  • Identifying and building lasting relationships with a diverse group of stakeholders from non-profits, authors, illustrators, publishers,  global translator communities, social enterprises, educators, parents, etc
  • Stay up-to-date with current technologies and trends in social media, design tools and applications
• Responsible for all brand communications  for StoryWeaver
  • Meet with internal stakeholders to determine brand objectives, strategies and yearly marketing calendar.
  • Suggest and implement campaigns/contests/ events to develop brand awareness, increase external stakeholder engagement, promote new features, new content etc
  • Responsible for all communication and content updation on the StoryWeaver website
  • Communicate with followers, respond to queries in a timely manner by working closely with cross functional  teams 
  • Manage internal communications ( newsletters etc.) and 
  • Work closely with the cross functional teams on newsletters, reports, press releases, award and grant applications

Required skills:

•  4-8 years of experience in marketing and social media management.

Nice to have but not mandatory:

•  Previous experience in Social Media / Communications/ Public Relations

Location:

This is a full-time position based out of Bangalore

Compensation:

Salary will be commensurate with qualification and experience.

Write to us:

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

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Pratham Books  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 a UX Designer as we significantly scale these initiatives. About the StoryWeaver Platform

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 two years, StoryWeaver has scaled from 800 stories in 24 languages to over 8500 stories in 113 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.                                Job Description We are looking for a UX designer to work closely alongside our Product Development team. The right candidate will be someone who wants to make a difference and  who believes that technology can be a powerful enabler in creating equitable access to resources. This role requires an individual contributor 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.

We’re looking for a self-motivated, detail-oriented individual who strongly believes in the power of a good user experience. You will work closely with the internal teams and other design partners. The person needs to be an out-of-the box thinker and should be a strong believer and propagator of use of open technologies.

The individual will be responsible for the following:

• UX designs for new features and enhancements on the platform

• Translate concepts into user flows, mockups and prototypes (use cases) that lead to  intuitive user experiences (where the screen would fit in the current website flow)

• Create Workflows, customer journey maps and designs for requirements provided by the product development team

• Requirements gathering/Internal Interviews for better understanding of features.

• Take a user-centered design approach and rapidly test and iterate your designs.

• Collaborate with other team members and stakeholders.

• Web screen (browser based) and mobile responsive prototyping

• User testing and documentation : testing the prototypes with key stakeholders, documenting the experience etc

• Support content & marcomm team on illustrations / designs on a need basis

Location: Position is based out of Bangalore. Project is expected to complete within a 2 year time-frame.

Salary: Compensation will be commensurate with experience.

 

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(Photo credit: Greshma Patel)

Mathangi Subramanian is an award winning author and educator who writes for the young and the young at heart. In 2016, her novel Dear Mrs. Naidu (Young Zubaan) won the 2016 South Asia Book Award and was shortlisted for the Hindu-Good Books prize. She currently lives in Delhi with her husband, her daughter, and many, many picture books.  Her book 'A Butterfly Smile'  is available to read, translate, download and share for free on StoryWeaver.

The thing I remember the most about the two years I lived in Bangalore is the construction. Everything was new, new, new: new flats, new hospitals and new offices. Every street seemed to have at least one cordoned off area where the air was thick with dust and the sidewalk was jagged and broken. People who grew up in Bangalore grumbled that the sleepy town they knew disappearing, brick by brick, block by block, swallowed up by glass walled skyscrapers sprouting from the pavement like steel flowers.

But I saw something different.

I didn’t just see new buildings. I saw new families. Mothers who buttoned men’s shirts over their saris, wrapped towels on their head to help balance buckets of rocks and gravel. Fathers who stopped to retie their dhotis before hoisting steel pans of gravel up to waiting hands cracked from sunlight and labour.

But most of all, I saw children. Babies playing in piles of sand, toddlers learning to walk on newly laid linoleum floors. Girls in faded school uniforms snapping laundry on lines strung between unfinished walls, boys eating roti off of dented metal plates in the shelter of unfinished doorways. Children who grow up shuttling between some of the city’s poshest buildings, and yet, were unsure of where their next meal is coming from.

Research repeatedly shows that in India, one of the primary reasons that parents migrate from villages to cities is for the schools. Some come from areas where education is subpar; others come from areas where there aren’t any schools at all.

Although children don’t have a say in their parents’ choices to migrate or stay, many that I’ve met over the years are thrilled at the chance to learn. But they are also terrified.  

Remember your first day of school? You may have three, four, or five years old. Now imagine that first day as a seven, eight, or nine-year-old, sitting next to children who have already been learning to read and write and add and subtract for years before you even dreamed it was possible.

Kavya, the protagonist in “A Butterfly Smile,” is character I developed based on conversations I’ve had with migrant girls attending Bangalore schools where I once worked as a researcher. Like the girls I’ve met, Kavya is strong and hopeful and brave. But she is also grappling with moving to a city that labels her and her family as backwards, ignorant, and pitiful.

Just because Kavya has never gone to school, though, doesn’t mean she’s ignorant. Kavya, like many children, is observant and curious. She knows about butterflies because when she lived in her village, she paid attention to the world around her. She noticed life’s details.

In the city, we get used to tunneling our vision, to focusing only one what is in front of us so we can get through our day. So even though we see the traffic jam around a new construction that makes us late to work, we don’t see the butterflies hovering around our car windows, or the families building cooking fires in the shelter of a half-finished office building. We shut the bustle out just so we can get through our day.  

For me, “A Butterfly Smile” is a story about migration. But it is also a story about the importance of looking around, and of seeing each other – insect and human, rich and poor, child and adult. Kavya is one of my favorite characters that I’ve created, because despite her uncertain world, she let has the courage to let life in.

After reading this story, I hope you will too.  

You can read 'A Butterfly Smile' by Mathangi Subramanian and illustrated by Lavanya Naidu by clicking on the above image. The story has been translated to Tamil and French and will soon be available to read in Hindi, Marathi and Kannada. 

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