Pratham Books
Pratham Books, a non-profit trust, was established in 2004 to fill a gap in the market for good quality, reasonably priced children’s books in Indian languages. The mission of Pratham Books is to make books affordable for every child in India.
Pratham Books publishes books in 11 Indian languages. The stories are written by Indian authors and are rooted in Indian culture and people. Each book is beautifully illustrated and the quality of printing is high. Most importantly, the books are priced between Rs. 10 and Rs. 25 (25 cents to 62.5 cents), making them affordable to millions of children.
You can view samples of Pratham Books and also order them online at www.prathambooks.org.
Our achievements till date
Pratham Books has developed and published over 125 titles in the 3 years of its existence. In 2008-09 alone, it printed and shipped over 3.4 million books and over 4 million story cards. The books were supplied to Pratham’s community libraries and other parts of the Pratham network. Other buyers of the books include multilateral agencies like UNICEF, state governments, other non-profit organizations like the Education Resource Center, Room to Read, Naandi and the Swami Vivekananda Trust, bookstores like Crossword, and individuals in both urban and rural areas. An estimated 2 million children have read a Pratham book and 10 million children have read the colorful story cards. Pratham Books has also succeeded in creating a network of authors, illustrators, translators, reviewers, design specialists, and printers. Well-known personalities like authors Bapsi Sidhwa, Roopa Pai, Olivia Fraser, and Subhadra Sen Gupta, former President Dr. Zakir Hussain, and theatre activist Feisal Alkazi have written stories for Pratham books. The success of Pratham Books has also motivated other publishing houses to create and supply low cost books.
