Santhini Govindan

Santhini Govindan (born March 20, 1959 in San Francisco, California, United States of America) is a widely published, award winning author of children's literature in English in India, who has written over 30 books for children including poetry, picture books and short stories for children of all ages. Her works have been translated into several Indian languages, and are widely used as text books in schools across India.

Early Life and Background

Santhini Govindan (née Kutty) was born to Madhavan Kutty, a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service and his wife Santha. She studied at the American Embassy International Schools at Prague in Czechoslovakia, in Berne, Switzerland, and in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where her father was posted. In 1977 she graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Economics from the University of Madras, and then went on to take a Masters Degree in English literature in 1979.

Literary career

In 1986, she entered story that she made up and told her infant son in the National Competition for Writers of Children’s books, organized by the Children’s Book Trust, New Delhi. The story ‘A Tale of Tuffy Turtle’, won a prize and in the competition and marked the beginning of her writing career. Santhini subsequently won several awards at the National Competition for writers of Children’s books organized by the Children’s Book Trust from 1987 to 2004. She was awarded a Junior Fellowship in Literature for two years from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Culture, Government of India in 1996 to write historical fiction for children. In 2002, she was awarded a two year Senior fellowship in Literature from the Department of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India for her project ‘Children’s Literature In English In India – Its Growth and Development’.

In July 2001, she was the first India writer to be invited to attend the annual Highlights Foundation writers workshop, held at Chautauqua, New York, United State of America. The Chautauqua conference which has won great renown is a major event in children’s publishing globally, and has writers attending from all over the world. She is greatly interested in history and has written several books for children on Indian history for IL&FS ETS including ‘It Happened 5000 years ago’, ‘ Asoka ‘s Diary’ and 'The Magical Maratha’ on the Maratha king Shivaji.

Santhini Govindan has written over 250 articles, features and stories for children that have appeared in children’s magazines and national dailies across India and overseas.

Personal life

She is an avid dog lover, art enthusiast and collector of bells and is married to K.M.Govindan. She has a son and a daughter, and resides and works in Mumbai, India.

References