Anandamela

Anandamela

Anandamela Sharadiya 2002 front cover

Anandamela Sharadiya 2002 front cover
Editor Paulami Sengupta
Former editors Ashoke Kumar Sarkar, Nirendranath Chakravarty, Debasish Bandyopadhyay
Frequency Fortnightly
Publisher ABP Limited
Country India
Language Bengali
Website www.anandamela.in

Anandamela or, Anondamela, or, Anonodomela (Bengali: আনন্দমেলা) is a children's periodical in the Bengali language published by ABP Limited (Ananda Bazar Patrika Group) from Kolkata, India. Also, with the Sunday issue of Ananda Bazar Patrika, the Bengali, daily newspaper, a colourful page is distributed free of cost- that page is named as Anandamela.

The magazine is published on a fortnightly basis.[1] It has been edited by several eminent personalities at different times including the poet Nirendranath Chakravarty,[2] Ashok Kumar Sarkar, and Debasish Bandopadhyay. The present editor is Paulami Sengupta. Anandamela is one of the oldest surviving Bengali children's magazines and is published twice on the second and twentieth day of every month. Many authors started writing for children through Anandamela; for example, author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay was noticed as a children's author after writing Manojder Adbhut Baari, which was published in Anandamela as a serial novel. On 19 June 2004, Anandamela split up into two different magazines, the original Anandamela (for children of the age group 8 – 14), and Unish Kuri, (for teens and young adults of the age group 15 – 25). Both the magazines are edited by the same editor and editorial team. Anandamela is published from 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Kolkata 700 001.

Content

Anandamela is popular for short stories, ghost stories, novels (most often, thrillers) and original comics. In the past, Anandamela had, for over 25 years, published The Adventures of Tintin comics in the Bengali language, making it the only magazine in India to have ever published Tintin in any of the Indian languages. The publication of Tintin was started in 1975.[3][4] Tintin was translated into Bengali by the editor of the magazine, Nirendranath Chakraborty.[4] Anandamela is trusted by parents for study-material and examination tips and has a section Tomader Pata, where it publishes drawings and anecdotes written by children/readers. The following are the regular features:

Popular series/novels/stories

Key writers

Key artists

Art and artists were always an important part of Anandamela, thus giving birth to some memorable artist talents. Among the large number of artists who illustrated the pages and covers of Anandamela, the most memorable 17 happen to be:

Special issue (Puja Number)

In October, the Bengali festive month, Anandamela comes in a special size of nearly 400 pages, the hallmark of which is Sunil Gangopadhyay's new novel of the thriller series, Kakababu, besides a full-length Feluda comics based on the story of Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray, illustrated by Abhijit Chattopadhyay. This special number features 5 – 6 full length complete novels, several short stories, features, three complete comic strips, some of which run up to 60 pages.

Although the fortnightly regular issues of Anandamela started much later, The Puja Number started in 1971. Its price was Rs. 2.00 and it did not contain any cartoon. Sunil Gangopadhyay is the only writer whose writings are present in every Puja Number of Anandamela from the beginning of the magazine.

Other activities

The Anandamela Club has a system of paid membership that arranges various programs, competitions and activities throughout the year for children.

Criticism

Anandamela has been criticised in the past for their over-dependence on foreign comics. Later, after Paulami Sengupta Sarkar took charge as the editor, original comics, and comics, based on Bengali literature were introduced, and all foreign comics were pulled, including The Adventures of Tintin, that was the hallmark and flagship brand of Anandamela.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "End of an era". The Hindu. 5 October 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  2. ↑ Kunal Chakrabarti; Shubhra Chakrabarti (22 August 2013). Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis. Scarecrow Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-8108-8024-5.
  3. ↑ Soutik Biswas (11 November 2011). "India's undying love affair with Tintin". BBC. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 "In Another Tongue". The Telegraph India. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
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