Indian publishing house and kids content company, Karadi Tales has been awarded ‘The Audiobook Publisher of the Year’ by the London Book Fair Excellence Awards. It was also shortlisted for The Education Initiative Award and The Educational Learning Resources Award.
Karadi Tales were also the producers for the Indian animated feature film, Goopi Gawaiyaa Bagha Bajaiyaa (GGBB).
Karadi Tales is known for its books, audio books and edutainment videos on YouTube. Since the launch of the first audio book title in 1996, many of their titles have sold more than 100,000 copies and most titles have sold at least 20,000 copies. Presently, Karadi Tales have over one hundred titles spanning their catalogue and many more in production.
Karadi Tales along with the educational firm Karadi Path, had been shortlisted for three London Book Fair International Excellence Awards this year. The awards, which are in their sixth edition, are held by the London Book Fair in partnership with the UK Publishers Association.
Shares Karadi Tales co-founder Narayan Parashuram, “We had been nominated for the LBF Audiobook Publisher award last year too. This year we were not only nominated again in this category, but winning it. Winning ‘The Audiobook Publisher of the Year’ was an icing to the cake, especially since institutions like Penguin and Random House too were in the fray. However, the greatest validation for us will always be the love and support of countless parents and children who have embraced Karadi into their lives. That we sell as much if not more today, the audiobooks we created 25 years ago, is the greatest blessing. We may have won this publishing award, but we do not look at ourselves as a mere book publishing house – we are in the business of storytelling in the legacy of the 3000 year old tradition of our coC.”
Karadi Tales was started in 1996 by a group of writers, educators and musicians to create a space for Indian culture in the world of children’s publishing. Their journey began with audiobooks in the form of cassettes that consisted of stories from Indian folklore, narrated by master storytellers like Girish Karnad, Usha Uthup, Gulzar, Naseeruddin Shah, Saeed Jaffery and others.
Their range of picture books for children features authors and illustrators of international repute, and have been published in Korean, Portugese, Japanese, Spanish, German and Chinese languages.
In 1999, they were the ones to create India’s first animated music video, Bandar Bindaas Bandar. Karadi Tales also composed the music for the film Jajantaram Mamantaram starring Javed Jaffrey.
“Karadi Tales was born out of a need for high-quality children’s audiobooks in India. We believe in setting the bar high, be it with music, narration, art or writing, and are thrilled to have won the award. When we began 24 years ago with no publishing background, we just wanted to create the kind of books our own children wanted, and it’s a wonderful feeling to know that our contribution is continuing to make a difference,” adds Karadi Tales co-founder and publishing director Shobha Viswanath.
The kids content company also produces animated episodes and are now in the third season. Their animated feature, Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya (GGBB) directed by Shilpa Ranade, released across 120 screens, the largest ever release for an independent Indian animation film. In fact, it’s going to be streaming soon on an Indian OTT platform, though no names have been disclosed yet by the Karadi Tales team.
Over the years, Karadi Tales’ viewership and subscriber numbers have increased significantly. And now with the world being in semi-lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Karadi Tales has witnessed a spike in viewership, online sales and digital content consumption. Karadi Tales has almost 23K subscribers on YouTube.
“We come from a land with a long history of storytelling. Karadi Tales uses the aural and visual traditions of India to create a powerful storytelling experience for children. We started off with two audiobook titles selling across 10 stores in India. Today we have over 200 titles, not merely selling in retail and online stores, but as part of the Karadi Path program in over 3600 schools in India. Karadi Tales tells stories to over two lakh children in India, every week. While our numbers have been good, we pray for the wellbeing of children, parents and fellow humans across the planet,” concludes Parasuram.
