The Guru Krupa Foundation funds social welfare, education, cultural preservation, and environmental conservation initiatives across the United States and India.
This September, Behind the Book Board Chair Jisha Dymond and Interim Executive Director Laurel Parker West sat down with Mukund Padmanabhan of the Guru Krupa Foundation to celebrate a partnership that has put published books in students' hands every year since 2021.
This year, Guru Krupa generously supported seven Behind the Book programs across Harlem, Union Square, the Bronx and Queens. It also helped fund the student anthologies that close each program, where young writers and artists see their own words and artwork in a professionally designed, printed book with their names inside. Every anthology we published this year proudly carries the Guru Krupa Foundation's name.
"At the Guru Krupa Foundation, we believe that nurturing a child's love for reading creates empowered children. Behind the Book’s approach to bringing diverse literature into the classrooms and connecting students with published authors builds confidence, critical thinking skills and opens doors for underprivileged youth. We are proud to support their literacy programs across the Bronx, helping students become engaged and confident creators of their own stories."
— Mukund Padmanabhan, Guru Krupa Foundation
To mark the occasion, Mukund and Jisha posed outside a New York Public Library branch holding two of this year's student anthologies.
"There's nothing quite like watching a student open a book and find their own words inside. The Guru Krupa Foundation has made that moment real for hundreds of young writers since 2021, and we're so grateful to call them partners in this work.”
— Jisha Dymond, Behind the Book’s Board Chair.