Puppet Tales

Vijaylakshmi Nagaraj is an educational consultant, author and storyteller. Her special focus has been integrating storytelling to textbook learning. She has been storytelling to children suffering from cancer using her handmade puppets, as she believes that storytelling is an excellent therapy for children suffering from long term illness.

She was involved in a ‘Reading to Recovery’ programme  for the Tsunami orphans in Nagapattinam in 2005. She has authored a number of children’s books, and written research-oriented articles on children’s literature.

She is a life member of The Association of Writer’s and Illustrators for  Children (AWIC), a New Delhi based NGO. She works has worked with Akshara Foundation in their Library programmes. She has been a member of the Steering Committee for Psycho-Social Support and Mental Health Services in Disasters, National Disaster Management Authority, Govt of India.

She has showcased traditional Indian storytelling at the World Congress on Children’s Books, in Cape Town, South Africa (2004) 

She has also represented the country at the world’s largest Children’s Book fair in Bologna, Italy in 1998 & 2003.  

In 2008, she was invited to the 31st International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) World Congress held  at Copenhagan, Denmark to present a paper on “Reading to Children in Crises”. She focused on the emotional and psychological healing through reading and storytelling. 

In August, 2012 she was invited to the 33rd IBBY, World Congress at London, U.K.  Her paper “Borderless Tales Impacting Young Minds”, was very well received . 

She has set up a children’s library at DR Chandrashekar’s Institute for Speech and Hearing. Her introduction of the children to storybooks and encouragement to read beyond text books brought about a positive improvement in their academics.

She is known for her innovative teaching techniques, encouraging children’s creativity into their learning process.  She believes that the emotional quotient in children is of prime importance and uses story telling and book reading very effectively to address this.  She is a committed social worker. She conducts workshops for teachers on the art of storytelling using handmade puppets.

She is one of the Founder Members of Bookalore , a Bangalore based book club for children.