Ramendra Kumar

Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is an award-winning Indian writer for children with 35 books in English. They are also available in 15 Indian languages and 14 foreign languages. He also dabbles in satire, poetry, travelogues, adult fiction and non-fiction.[1]

Ramendra Kumar
BornHyderabad, India
NationalityIndian
GenreChildren's fiction, satire, poetry, travelogues, fiction & non-fiction for adults
Website
ramendra.in

Biography

Ramen was born in Hyderabad. He did his schooling from Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet. After completing his Engineering and MBA he moved to Rourkela when he got a job in Rourkela Steel Plant. His daughter Ankita, son Aniket & Labrador Aryan are bonsai celebrities in their own right.[2]

Writing career

Ramen commenced by writing satire and poetry but once his daughter started pestering him for stories, he shifted to children's fiction. Ramen's first book for children came out in 1997. Since then his work has been published by such well known names like Penguin, Duckbill Hachette, Pratham, National Book Trust (NBT), Rupa & Co., Children's Book Trust (CBT), Navneet, Readomania, Pauline & Ponytale. His stories have been included in ten anthologies brought out by CBT as well as collections brought out by AWIC, Vikas, Pustak Mahal, Readomania and Blue Pencil. His stories have also been published in the 'Chicken Soup for the Soul Series.'

Ramen's work has been published and reviewed in major newspapers and magazines. One of his stories has been included in the text book for class 9 students of Norway while another story has been adapted as Kamishibai, the traditional form of storytelling in Japan. His stories have also found a place in 15 textbooks for schools following CBSE and ICSE and State Boards as well as in the curriculum in schools abroad. Six of his books have been recommended by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), India, as Supplementary Readers. His read-aloud book Paplu the Giant was selected for story telling sessions to mark the International Literacy Day, by its publisher Pratham. On 7 September 2013 the story was narrated in more than 25 languages in 27 states across the country as well as abroad. Paplu the Giant has also been brought out as an audio book by "Radio Mirchi" in five languages as a part of its CSR initiative 'Mirchi Cares'. The book  has been distributed by Pratham in collaboration with National Association for the Blind. Department of Education, Government of Sri Lanka has published a text book for students of Grade 5 which will be distributed free of cost to 3.2 lakh children in the island country.

His adaptation of Juvenile Justice Act, 2006 in a Graphic Book format was endorsed by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ). His graphic book on diabetes was published by Butterflies, a NGO involved with street and working children.

Ramen has also to his credit several travelogues, satires, articles on relationships and parenting issues which have been published  both online as well as offline. His research based literary pieces which have found a place in different anthologies. Ramen has also to his credit several literary pieces which have been published in different anthologies.

The first edition of his maiden book for adults Mohini, was sold out in the very first week of its release. His first book on non-fiction, Effective Parenting: A New Paradigm, has received an excellent response in both its print as well as eAvatars and is in its second reprint.

The writer is a popular blogger and more than 200 of his literary pieces have appeared on various portals.

An inspirational speaker and storyteller, Ramen has been invited to participate in several festivals including Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, Jaipur Literature Festival, Hyderabad Literary Festival, Bookaroo, Bhubaneswar Festival of Storytelling (BhuFesto), Chandigarh Children's Literature Festival etc. as well as seminars organised by Sahitya Akademi, IGNOU and NBT among others. He presented a paper at the 31st IBBY World Congress held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2008. He had the rare honour of chairing two sessions at the 36th IBBY World Congress held in Aug-Sept. 2018, the only Indian writer to do so. Ramen has also conducted Creative Writing sessions in Denmark, Kenya & Sri Lanka.[3]

Awards & accolades

Ramen won 5 prizes in the ‘Competition for Writers of Children’s Books, 2016 (English) organized by CBT. With this, the tally of Ramen’s awards in this prestigious competition over the years has climbed to 31. Ramen was also felicitated by the writers and publishers of Sri Lanka[4] for his significant contribution to children’s literature, in December 2017.

Ramen was  conferred the ‘Hall of Fame’ award by Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) in March 2020. The award is one of the highest recognitions for the PR professionals in the country.

The writer was chosen as a part of a jury for the first ‘Author Awards’ instituted by the Times of India and JK Paper. The other members of the jury of these coveted awards, which were presented in four genres to women writers, included Ashwin Sanghi, Shobhaa De,  Sonali Bendre et al.

Bibliography
  1. JUST A SECOND AND OTHER STORIES (1997) – Vikas Publishing House, Pvt. ltd., New Delhi
  2. THE MAGIC PILLS AND OTHER STORIES (1999)- Vikas Publishing House, Pvt. ltd., New Delhi
  3. THE WILL TO WIN (2001) –Dahlia Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Kerala
  4. INTERNET IN THE JUNGLE AND OTHER STORIES (2003)- Sanbun Publishers, New Delhi.
  5. THE MAD SCIENTIST AND OTHER STORIES (2004) – Rupa & Co., New Delhi
  6. CHECK AND MATE AND OTHER STORIES (2004) – Rupa & Co., New Delhi
  7. THE MIRACLE PARK (2004) – Dahlia Publishers Pvt Ltd., Kerala
  8. BABOLITO AND OTHER FANTASIES (2005) – Navneet Publications (India) Ltd., Mumbai
  9. NOT A MERE GAME AND OTHER STORIES (2006) – Navneet Publications (India) Ltd., Mumbai
  10. THE BRAVE FRIENDS AND OTHER STORIES (2007) – Pauline Publications, Mumbai
  11. BETTER THAN THE BEST (2007) – National Book Trust (NBT), New Delhi
  12. TERROR IN FUN CITY (NOVEL) (2008) – Navneet Publications (India) Ltd., Mumbai
  13. THE CACTUS (2009) – National Book Trust (NBT), New Delhi
  14. FOLK TALES OF ORISSA (2009) – Children's Book Trust (CBT), New Delhi
  15. JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT (Graphic Book) (2010) - Butterflies, New Delhi
  16. NOW OR NEVER (NOVEL) (2010)- Ponytale Books, New Delhi
  17. PAPLU THE GIANT (2011) – Pratham Books, Bengaluru
  18. BRAVE NIRMAL AND OTHER STORIES (2012) – Pauline Publications, Mumbai
  19. WHAT, WHY AND HOW - A GRAPHIC BOOK ON DIABETES (2012) - Butterflies, New Delhi
  20. A TALE OF TAILS (2013) – National Book Trust (NBT), New Delhi
  21. WE ARE DIFFERENT (2013) – National Book Trust (NBT), New Delhi
  22. THE ROYAL SWEEPERS (2013) – National Book Trust (NBT), New Delhi
  23. BOOND (2013) – National Book Trust (NBT), New Delhi
  24. MOHINI (2014) – Bluejay Books Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi
  25. EFFECTIVE PARENTING: A NEW PARADIGM (2014) - learningandcreativity.com
  26. TALES OF LORD JAGANNATH (2014) - B.K.Publications Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar
  27. THE INDIAN MASAAI (2015) - Frog Books, Mumbai
  28. INTEHA : Gazal. Geet. (Hindi)(2015) – Authors’ Ink Publications, New Delhi www.authorsinkindia.com
  29. THE PERFECT MATCH(2015) - Pratham Books, Bengaluru
  30. AND THE JHELUM FLOWS (2016) - Authors’ Ink Publications,New Delhi
  31. A TSUNAMI CALLED NANI (2016) - Mango Books, Kochi
  32. AGAINST ALL ODDS (2017) – Duckbill  Books, New Delhi
  33. A SPECIAL ACT  (2017 ) – A Comic Book on POCSO Act, Butterflies, New Delhi
  34. APJ ABDUL KALAM (2018)  - A Scientist & A Sage - B.K.Publications Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar
  35. THE SIEGE OF CRICKET (2018 )–  Readomania Publishing (2018), New Delhi
  36. DILIP TIRKEY : An Authorized Biography  (2018) – Paschima Publications, Bhubaneswar
  37. DIFFERENT SHADES OF  EVE – Woven Words Publishers (2019)
  38. STORIES OF RESILIENCE (2019) – Protsahan Foundation, New Delhi

References
  1. "Children's writer Ramendra Kumar honored in Athens".
  2. "City-bred young adult book writer at Athens event".
  3. "Noted writer Ramendra Kumar felicitated in Sri Lanka". Outlook (India). Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  4. "Noted writer Ramendra Kumar felicitated in Sri Lanka". Outlook (India). Retrieved 23 March 2020.
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