Funky Rainbow’s Book Buzzaar ~ The Definitive Show on Indian Children’s Books was born as a COVID-19 pandemic lockdown initiative that took books to people at a time when people could not venture out of their homes let alone visit a bookshop! It is a live show that presents a curated, themed collection of books that represented the best of Indian children’s literature.
The Big Little World of Books
We’re absolutely delighted that Funky Rainbow was invited by the Bologna Children’s Book Fair this year to participate in their third International Conference of Children’s Bookstores in collaboration with ALIR, the Italian Independent Bookstore Association for Children.
Six independent bookstores and their founders from across the world – Magdaléna Čulík Simonová and Lenka Greň, Co-owners, Kafe Knihy Jednota (Czech Republic), Vidya Mani, Co-Founder, Funky Rainbow: The Travelling Children’s Bookshop (India), Petra Paoli, Member of the Board, ALIR, association of independent libraries for children (Italy), Yolanda Reyes, Founder, Librería Espantapájaros (Colombia), Balsam Saad, Founder, Al-Balsam Bookstore – مكتبة البلسم and Publishing House (Egypt), Anna Thorn, Member, Books Across Borders (USA), and Minoru Yomo, Founder, Libreria Cerbiatto and Libreria due Porte (cerbiatto_libro_illustrato, Japan) moderated by Julia Eccleshare, Children’s Director of the Hay Festival (UK) – came together to share ideas and projects, shedding light on challenges children’s booksellers have been facing since the outbreak of the pandemic and exploring opportunities that have emerged since. We showcased Funky Rainbow’s popular weekly live-streaming book show, Book Buzzaar, as a unique initiative that has kept the wheels of our big little book truck turning and helped us continue on our mission of taking Indian children’s books here, there, everywhere!
When we started out as a travelling bookshop with a special focus on Indian children’s books in 2013, little did we imagine that the journey would take us to Bologna one day, even if virtually! We are thrilled beyond words to have interacted with charming, creative children’s booksellers from around the world, all of whom have helped reinforce our indefatigable belief that books are indeed the magic carpet on which imagination takes flight!
(June 2021)
