Children's Book Trust (CBT) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

children and young adult

book publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. It was founded by cartoonist

K. Shankar Pillai Kesava Shankar Pillai (31 July 1902 – 26 December 1989), better known as Shankar, was an Indian cartoonist. He is considered the father of political cartooning in India. He founded ''Shankar's Weekly'', India's ''Punch'' in 1948. ''Shankar's ...

, popularly known as Shankar, in 1957 and was inaugurated by the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murm ...

Dr.

S. Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), natively Radhakrishnayya, was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He served as the 2nd President of India from 1962 to 1967. He also 1st Vice President of India from 1952 ...

. It is housed in Nehru House along with the

Shankar's International Dolls Museum The International Dolls Museum is a large collection of dolls in Delhi, India. It was set up by K. Shankar Pillai, a political cartoonist. Housed in the Children's Book Trust building on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, accessed through a separate e ...

. Today, CBT comprises the Shankar's International Dolls Museum, the Dolls Designing and Production Center, Dr. B.C. Roy Memorial Children's Library and Reading Room and Library, and the Indraprastha Press.

History

Initially Shankar was the only story writer published by CBT but soon expanded to include others. CBT brought out its first set of illustrated books in 1961: ''Kings Choice'' (English) written by K. Shiv Kumar and illustrated by Reboti Bhushan, and ''Varsha Ki Boond'' (Hindi) by Kusmawati Deshpande and illustrated by K. K. Hebbar. Its first picture book ''Home'' (English) written by Kamla Nair and illustrated by K.S. Kulkarni was published in 1965. The first picture book for pre-school children ''Three Fish'' written by Dolat Doongaji and A.K.Lavangia, and illustrated by

Pulak Biswas Pulak Biswas (1941—29 August 2013) is a leading artist and children's book illustrator from India. Biography Biswas was born in Dhaka, British India. After training at the Government College of Art, Kolkata, he worked for many years in the a ...

was published in 1966. In 1978, CBT started an annual Competition for Writers of Children's Books, and today most of its publishing is sourced from the winning entries. Its books are printed at its own 'Indraprastha Press', and sent out to international book fairs through the National Book Trust and its network of 1500 distributors.Founder Biography
CBT website.

References

External links

Children's Book Trust official website
{{Authority control Book publishing companies of India Companies based in New Delhi Publishing companies established in 1957 Children's book publishers