KARACHI: The three-day Children’s Book Writer’s Workshop has provided a fine opportunity for aspiring writers to step into the world of children’s literature and embark on a journey of creativity and imagination.

Organised by the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agahi (ITA) in collaboration with Room to Read and the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, the workshop, which concluded on Sunday, was led by literacy and literary experts, including Global Literacy Adviser from Room to Read Mahesh Pathirathna and renowned Pakistani author and illustrator Rumana Husain, who has over 75 publications to her name.

Their aim, in line with ITA’s vision, was to empower aspiring writers to create and produce books in order to enhance the quality of children’s literature, build capacity, inspire educators to focus on children’s literature, and foster collaboration among diverse individuals and organisations dedicated to children’s learning.

And so there were Mariam, Saima, Shabbir, Hira, Sana and Sanaa and so many more aspiring children’s story writers from all over Pakistan gathered in the Josh Malihabadi Library of Arts Council throwing different ideas for children’s stories at each other.

Workshop for writers of children’s books concludes

Rumana Husain explained to them about plotting stories. “Your first draft is not your last. Writing a story may take you days, weeks and even months so don’t lose heart,” she said.

She also explained that stories for children should not be preachy and should also carry some humour after one participant shared her idea of a sad story. Rumana said that she had penned a story for children about the floods. “But even there I had to put in some humour,” she said.

“You should be subtle in your stories. As it is, our textbooks are preaching enough. Storybooks should be like a breather for children. They should be fun though not without you saying what is to be said, therefore the need for subtlety,” she said.

Mahesh Pathirathna advised them to inspire children through their stories. “You don’t have to write realistic stories like they actually happened. Maybe you want to write something you yourself have experienced. But don’t write about experience as it is. Keep in mind that it is fiction. It can be made up with imagination. It doesn’t need to be the truth,” he said.

“Make a child-friendly story. For example, there is a kid from a mountainous region of Pakistan who doesn’t know how to swim but then he learns swimming to become a champion swimmer,” he said while playing with the idea of one of the participants who hailed from Chitral and was thinking about writing a story about such a boy who had never even seen a swimming pool in his hometown.

Rumana, the artist that she is, added to that with Picasso’s example. “Picasso was a great painter of realistic pictures but he was only considered as a great artist after he started painting abstract pictures. In doing so he broke his own painting rules,” she pointed out.

“You can break rules,” Mahesh added. “But in order to do that you also need to know the rules,” he said.

ITA chief executive Baela Raza Jamil said that last year, ITA and Room to Read collaborated for 15 beautiful books for children aged four to eight with three publishers. “This year’s workshop will add more to that number,” she hoped.

Following the Writers’ Workshop, ITA will conduct another three-day workshop with the same two trainers, Rumana and Mahesh, this time for illustrators, from July 10 to 12, at the same venue.

This workshop will also aim to produce high quality, lively and fun-filled illustrations for children’s books. Like the Writers’ Workshop, it will focus on producing vibrant and engaging books that promote a love for reading and improve literacy skills among children.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2024