Funky Rainbow (established in 2013) is India’s only independent bookshop with an exclusive focus on Indian children's books.
Since 2013, we have curated a collection of over 18,000 handpicked Indian children’s books, from over 100 publishers and imprints, representing the best in Indian children’s literature.
Funky Rainbow takes authors and illustrators of books published by the biggest publishers in India to schools so that children can have real-life interactions with the people who create books for Indian children. We do this by having the creators talk about their books and have some activity centred around a book of theirs to make the session enjoyable.
Our experience across the last twelve years has shown that this kindles definite interest in reading among the children and provides for an enjoyable introduction to reading for fun, distinctly different from their experiences with school textbooks.
We are also a travelling children’s bookshop and book consultancy run by children’s writers, illustrators and creative professionals with the aim of introducing books to young audiences. Our books are handpicked and curated for children in the age-group of 0-18 years and represent the best of Indian children’s writing. The bookstore carries a mix of both fiction and non-fiction titles that are not easily available in mainstream bookstores.
Team Funky Rainbow
- Funky Rainbow won the Best Bookstore, Bengaluru Award at the Kidsstoppress Awards 2018.
- In 2021, our Book Buzzaar was chosen as one among six innovative pandemic initiatives undertaken by independent children's booksellers from across the world by the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2021, and we were invited to be a part of the Third International Conference of Children's Bookstores at the fair.
- Our Co-Founder and Curator-in-Chief, Vidya Mani (Editor & Author), was invited to the Frankfurt Book Fair 2022 as part of their programme for book curators and booksellers. Vidya represented India and we were delighted for the opportunity to showcase Funky Rainbow's work and the curated collection of Indian Children's Books at an international forum.
- A) Funky Rainbow is committed to bringing books and children together in exciting and innovative ways. Typically, we conduct events and workshops in schools, libraries, parks, public spaces and lit fests where we have readings and activities for children of various age-groups that are based on contemporary Indian children's books.
- One of our most popular programmes in schools is the Lit-Fest. The Literature Festival aims to promote reading, creativity and critical thinking among students by unlocking the power of literature through multi-art experiences. Students meet and interact with well-known children's writers, illustrators, storytellers and creative people, which helps promote the reading and writing habit and encourages their literary skills. This programme seeks to introduce children to a wide range of literary genres, including picture books, novels, poetry, comics, graphic novels, biographies and more.
- B) Funky Rainbow puts up its colourful, curated collection of children's books for sale at school and public events across the country for children in the age-group of 0-18 years. We believe books by Indian creators work well for children in terms of connections, discoveries and experiences. Children and adults stop by at our pop-up bookshop, spend time looking through the books and we help them pick books that suit their interests.
- C) Funky Rainbow helps schools enrich and build their library with Indian children's books and resource books for educators. These books are handpicked by writers, illustrators, editors and librarians for children of various age-groups (0-18 years) and represent the best of Indian children's writing. We help schools to make their library a lively space, ensuring there are enough books for children of all ages and even matching them to specific academic and reading requirements.
- D) Funky Rainbow does sessions for adults (parents, grandparents, teachers, librarians, postgraduate students and others) to introduce them to the wide variety of books available in the Indian children's publishing space, focussing on the diversity of themes and cultural contexts. These sessions are meant to help adults introduce Indian children's books to young readers and get them to discover the joy of reading them.