Ramendra Kumar

Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is an award winning Indian writer for children with 30 books in English and translations in 9 foreign and 12 Indian languages. He also dabbles in satire, poetry, travelogues, adult fiction and non-fiction.

Ramen was born in Hyderabad. He did his schooling from Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet. After completing his Engineering and MBA he moved to Rourkela when he got a job in Rourkela Steel Plant. He is now settled in Rourkela with his wife Madhavi and labrador Aryan. His daughter Ankita and son Aniket are bonsai celebrities in their own right.

Ramen commenced by writing satire and poetry but once his daughter started pestering him for stories, he shifted to children's fiction. Ramen's first book for children came out in 1997. Since then his work has been published by such well known names like Penguin, Hachette, Pratham, National Book Trust (NBT), Rupa & Co., Children's Book Trust (CBT), Navneet, Pauline, Ponytale, Pustak Mahal and Vikas. His stories have been included in ten anthologies brought out by CBT as well as collections brought out by Vikas and Pustak Mahal. His stories have also been published in the 'Chicken Soup for the Soul Series.'

Ramen's work has been published and reviewed in major newspapers and magazines. One of his stories has been included in the text book for class 9 students of Norway while another story has been adapted as Kamishibai, the traditional form of storytelling in Japan. His stories have also found a place in text books for schools following CBSE and ICSE and State Boards as well as in the curriculum in schools abroad. 6 of his books have been recommended by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), India, as Supplementary Readers. His read-aloud book Paplu the Giant was selected for story telling sessions to mark the International Literacy Day, by its publisher Pratham. On 7 September 2013 the story was narrated in more than 25 languages in 27 states across the country as well as abroad.

The book has also been brought out as an audio book by "Radio Mirchi" in five languages as a part of its CSR initiative 'Mirchi Cares'. The book will be distributed by Pratham in collaboration with National Association for the Blind.

His adaptation of Juvenile Justice Act, 2006 in a Graphic Book format was endorsed by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ). His graphic book on diabetes was published by Butterflies, a NGO involved with street and working children.

The first edition of his maiden book for adults Mohini, was sold out in the very first week of its release. His first book on non-fiction, Effective Parenting: A New Paradigm, has received an excellent response in both its print as well as eAvatars.

The writer is a popular blogger and has been contributing regularly to several ezines including The Week.in, Bonobology.com, Faking News.First Post.com, Teekhi Mirchi.in, ParentEdge.in, LearningandCeativity.com et al. More than 200 of his literary pieces have appeared on various portals. He is the editor of a children's website bolokids.com.^[2]

Ramen is a much sought after inspirational speaker, storyteller and mentor. Over the last couple of years the author has become a regular at leading children's literature festivals, seminars and workshops organised by Bookaroo Trust, Rotary International, Lions Club International, National Book Trust, India, IGNOU, Adab Foundation, Writers Bug et al.

Ramen has won 26 national awards in competitions organised for writers of children's books. He also had the rare honour of presenting a paper at the 31st IBBY World Congress-2008 held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2008.