Manorama Jafa

Manorama Jafa was born in 1932[4] and secured a master's degree in Geography from University of Allahabad. After her marriage to Virender Singh Jafa, she took up writing, in the late 60s, when her husband was posted in Patna. The initial efforts were columns in local newspapers which soon developed into story writing.[1]

When her husband moved to the US to work for the United Nations, she took a course in story writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology[1] to propel a career which yielded over 100 books and several hundred stories.

Manorama has two children, eldest a son and the youngest, a daughter, Navina Jafa, a locally known Kathak dancer.[1]

Manorama Jafa is a prolific writer with more than 100 books and many research papers to her credit. She writes in Hindi and English and her stories have been translated into many languages such as Japanese,[5] Dutch, Italian and Spanish.[2][6] From her first book, Donkey on the Bridge,[1] Jafa writes in simple language,[4] mostly in text and pictures format,. Jafa writes for adults as well, such as her book Devika, which has more political overtones.[1]

Apart from the regular books, she has written, Manorama Jafa's contributions to the cause of Children's literature have been reported to be noteworthy.[1][5] She has also written themed books, such as Gabbar and Babbar and I am Sona, which are aimed at children with special needs.[2] She has launched a special program for traumatized children, Book Therapy and has distributed books to children living in areas distressed by calamities like Afghanistan and in tsunami-affected areas in India.[2] She confessed the idea struck her on seeing a picture of a crying child holding a ball for comfort after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.[2]

Jafa has produced many research papers on children's literature and a book on writing children's literature[2] and is pioneering a movement for better books for children. She also conducts regular workshops for emerging writers to promote children's literature in countries like Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, which are said to have influenced the present boom in Children's literature.[1] She is also credited with initiating a home library movement towards this end.[1]

Manaorama Jafa is also the General Secretary of the Indian National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People[7] (IBBY).[5] She presided over the 26th Congress of the IBBY, conducted in 1989, as its Chairperson. She was also involved with the Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO, as its children's book specialist. She has served in the juries of the IIY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award (2000-2001) as its chairperson and the UNESCO Prize for Books on Tolerance (1999-2000) as a member.[8][9]

Manorama Jafa, along with noted cartoonist, Shankar, founded the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC),[1][2] for which she serves as the Secretary General.[5] She is the editor of the quarterly journal published by AWIC, the only professional journal on children's literature. She is also associated with the National Book Trust, New Delhi as its editorial consultant.

In November 2020, she donated her books for thousands of children in the name of her life companion Mr. Virendra Singh Jafa at various NGOs like Deepalaya, Community Project Library, and various other schools including the Aaganvadaddi schools in Haryana under the Ministry of Child and Women Development. The collection includes - 1. Technical work on children's literature, ( writing for children of different age groups) art of illustrating for children's books, the area of publishing, and creative inventive events for promoting reading, storytelling, and libraries. 2. The collection incorporates Special old and new samples of children's magazines including Soundesh, Highlights, Cricket et 3. Special books like handmade, cloth, touch and sound, braille, and baby bath books books 4. Newbery, Caldecott and prizewinning collection of books since the 1970s from around the world. 5. Original artwork for Children's books. 6. Special collection on nature, environment, and wildlife books for children. 7. Correspondence with Issac Asimov, Satyajit Ray, Shanker Pillai, Empress Michiko 8. Autographed and personal presentations by people who have made landmark contributions to children's literature. 9. Publications of writers and illustrators from India, and other Asian countries trained by her. 10. Over 200 books written and published for children from the age of 3 to young adults written by Manorama Jafa. 11. Research work on Kathasarit Sagar, Hittopdesh, and Jatak tales. 12. An entire research on Panchtantra including the Iranian version Khalila was Dimna and the evidence of a multimedia exhibition on Panchtantra at IGNCA in partnership with Kapila Vatsyayan and another exhibit in Japan. 13. A collection of books which she got her team of writers to develop which include innovative alphabet books, illustrated dictionaries for children in Hindi. The literacy project under the Association of Writers and Illustrators launched by the money presented to Amma ( 60 lakhs) which she donated to the association to develop creative literature for children. 14. There are in the personal collection sets of unpublished original cartoons by Shanker and Ranga. The cartoons are important since my mother developed with artist Rebati Bhushan a unique 4 color style of illustrations for children evolved from cartoon art. 15. Papers presented at different forums on various aspects of Children's literature, including the course she taught at Radcliffe on South Asian Children's literature.

Manorama Jafa has been recognized by several organizations. IBC, in 1999, rated Manorama as one of the top 2000 scholars of 20th Century.[2] Nami Island International Children's Book Festival, Nambook Festival,[10] named her as A living treasure of children's literature in India, in 2010.[2]

The Government of India awarded Padma Shri to Manorama Jafa, in 2014, honouring her efforts to the cause of promoting Children's literature.[3]

• Manorama Jafa (15 October 2013). Sadako of Hiroshima. Ratna Sagar. p. 16. ISBN 978-9350360842.
• Manorama Jafa (15 October 2013). The Parrot and the Mynah. Ratna Sagar. p. 16. ISBN 978-9350360804.
• Manorama Jafa (1 January 2008). The Circle. Ratna Sagar. p. 16. ISBN 978-8170700692.
• Manorama Jafa (1 January 2011). Tree Growers. Ratna Sagar. p. 16. ISBN 978-8170700425.
• Manorama Jafa (1 January 2009). Great Tales from India. Khaas Kitab Foundation. p. 16. ISBN 978-8188236428.
• Manorama Jafa (1 January 2009). Hira. Ratna Sagar. p. 12. ISBN 978-8170700487.
• Manorama Jafa (1 November 2003). Kapil, El Amante De Los Libros (Spanish Edition). Shinsekai Kenkyusho. p. 22. ISBN 978-4880126630.

• International Board on Books for Young People

• "List of Books on Amazon". Amazon.com. 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
• "List of Books on GoodReads". Good Reads.com. 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
• "Book Depository". Book Depository.com. 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.