Bukmuk Publishing · Heritage · Vol. I
Those afternoons at your grandparents’ house, and the stories that always came out. Go and ask for one again. Write down what they say and send it to us. The best ones go into a printed book, under their name, for your family to keep and for the world to read.
01 How it works
Pick one of the three themes below. Ask your grandparent about it, and write down what they say. Between 400 and 800 words, which is about one sitting’s worth of talking. Send it in before 31 October 2026, 11:59 pm IST.
Our editors read every entry. The selected stories are printed in an anthology with a real ISBN, sold in India and worldwide, with the storyteller credited as the author of their story.
You do not have to be a writer, and neither do they. Record them on your phone and type it up afterwards if that is easier. Most people do.
If your school or society is taking part, their code makes it free. Without one it is ₹490 for the story.
Almost everyone tells us the same thing afterwards: the afternoon of asking was the best part, and they heard things they had never been told.
Who writes it down
Usually a grandchild, but a son or daughter is fine, and so is the grandparent writing it themselves. The form asks which.
Whoever types it, the story goes in the book under your grandparent’s name.
02 The three themes
400 to 800 words
The place they grew up in, and most likely left. What it looked like, who was on the street, what happened there.
400 to 800 words
The work they did for thirty years. The shop, the field, the classroom, the office, and what they were proud of.
400 to 800 words
Someone they still talk about, who you never got to meet. Your chance to finally know them.
One story per theme. If a grandparent has three stories in them, all three are welcome.
03 What the published storytellers get
Your grandparent has probably never had their name on a book. This puts it there, with an ISBN, on shelves and on Amazon, where anyone can find it and your family can keep it. That is why we print these rather than just collect them.
What it costs
₹490
Per story, paid by UPI, card or net banking. Free for anyone entering through a partner school or society with their code.
If a story is selected we write to the family about copies of the book. Nobody is ever asked for that until they can see the story is in.
04 Send a story in
Before you start
Stuck on any of this, or something not working? WhatsApp Shefali on +91 81302 86286 or write to helpdesk@bukmuk.com. A real person answers.
05 For schools, societies and groups
If you run a school, this is a term of writing that ends in a real book, and a class of children who spend an afternoon listening to their grandparents instead of texting them. Most of them come back having heard something nobody in the family had told them.
If you run a residents’ association or a seniors’ group, the storytellers are already sitting in your meetings. A colony that has stood for thirty years has a history and nobody has ever written it down. This is how you collect it, and how you end up with a book in the common room with your neighbours’ names in it.
We give you a code and everything you need to put it in front of your families. It costs you nothing, and it takes the ₹490 entry fee away for every one of them.
Write to helpdesk@bukmuk.com or WhatsApp us on +91 81302 86286 and we will set you up.
Why a code helps
It makes every entry from your community free, and it tells us the story came through you, so your name goes in the book and we know where to come back to next year.
Anyone without a code can still enter directly on the same form, for ₹490. Nobody is ever turned away for not knowing somebody.
06 Before you enter
On difficult stories
Many of these lives contain Partition, migration, loss and illness. Those stories are welcome, and they are often the ones most worth keeping.
We will not print anything that names a living person in a way that could harm them, and we will always come back to you before we edit anything sensitive.
Read the terms and privacy policy.
07 Questions, or something gone wrong
Whether it is a question about the themes, a file that will not upload, a code that is not working, or an older parent who would rather tell us the story over the phone than fill in a form, write or call. We would rather sort it out than lose the story.
If you have already entered, keep your entry reference from the confirmation email and quote it. That lets us find the story straight away.
Shefali Malhotra
Founder, and the person who reads the entries.
WhatsApp or call
Entries close 31 October 2026, 11:59 pm IST. If you write to us close to the deadline, say so and we will come back to you the same day.