Making Malayalam Books more Accessible

Book lovers have a reason to be happy- Read Me Books an initiative by a few book lovers will get your books to your doorstep. The publication will launch the first book ‘Nammuku Parayam Kathakal’ on the 12th February at YMCA, Trivandrum.

The book written by Ashitha, will be launched by actor Alencier presenting a copy to writer Priya AS. “It is a collection of short stories for children under the age of 10. Ashitha wrote them around the time her grandchild was born. There are 31 short stories- one for each day of the month,” says director Sreebala Menon, one of the brains behind read me books.

“The idea is to make books accessible to everyone. Malayalam books are tough to access, especially for those living outside Kerala. Also, people who live in remote villages like Wayanad and Idukki have to go to bookstores in the city. And this is where an audio book or an e-book becomes useful,” she explains.

Read Me Books plans to launch e-books and audio books simultaneously with every book launch and translate it into English by its first or second edition. This way written work in Malayalam will be more accessible, Sreebala explains.

“The focus on the upcoming event will be on kids. There will be notable personalities like writer Ashitha, novelist Praveen P Gopinath and writer, journalist and noted television personality Shihabuddin Poythumkadavu, who will read out stories to the children present there.”

There is already an app, Kelkkam for the audio books.

The event will take place on 12th February at YMCA, Trivandrum at 5 pm.

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