Eminent writers receive awards on the occasion of Jhumuka magazine’s silver jubilee celebration at Jayadev Bhavan in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 26: Children of urban regions may not be familiar with excitement that dwelled in the tales of grandmothers.

However, the world of fairytales and mystic characters still come alive in Oriya with literary magazines for children, such as Jhumuka.

The well-known children's magazine celebrated its silver jubilee on Friday and awarded 25 eminent writers on the occasion.

Veteran authors, Nadiya Bihari Mohanty, who is remembered for presenting Sisu Sansar radio show on the All India Radio; Punyaprabha Devi, winner of many national and state awards for short stories and poetry on children; Maheswar Mulia, Rameshchandra Bhanja, Batakrushna Ojha, Debaraj Samantray, Prasanna Kumar Mishra and many others were awarded during the function for their lifetime contribution to children's literature.

Most of the writers present were apprehensive of the future of this genre of Oriya literature. “The new generation writers are talented and write on progressive themes based on science and technology. But the moral values and colours of culture are missing in children’s literature, which is a matter of concern,” said Nadiya Bihari Mohanty.

“I feel there should be little theatres for children and the evergreen stories by children's writers should be shown on television so that kids learn about values. These initiatives should be especially taken up by the Orissa Sahitya Akademi,” he added.

“The state government could prevent the decline of sale of books on children's literature and Oriya literature in general,” said Prasanna Kumar Mishra.

“Most of the books are published by the government but they are not finding readers since they are not available in the market. No one knows where these are dumped and why they are not circulated in the market after publication.

“The government authorities have not shown any inclination to promote sishu sahitya (children’s literature),” he said.

The editor of Jhumuka, Manas Ranjan Samal also said that sustaining the magazine for 25 years was a Herculean task.

“We have come across many financial burdens and other issues in logistics.

“Literature needs government support and we hope we will find it in future,” said Samal.