“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write. As simple as that,” author Stephen King has said.
Non profit organisation Katha seems to be going by the phrase and has tied up with Central Board of Secondary Education to promote an ‘ I Love Reading’ project in schools affiliated to CBSE. In order to encourage children to write creatively, Katha is conducting writing, poetry and translation competitions in participating schools for children.
Schools can register on Katha’s website and participating schools will form the Katha Club in their existing literary groups or societies, which will conduct competitions for writing original stories, poetry and translations, in both Hindi and English. Katha has received 250 registrations till date .
The work of all participants will be put online on Katha’s website where readers can cast their vote for their favourite work. The semi –finalists, accompanied by their school teachers, will be invited to regional writing workshops and will get a chance to review their work under the guidance of renowned professional writers, poets and translators. The stories qualifying for the final round will be selected through screening by a panel of experts. Author Kala Ramesh, Ankit Chadha, Keerti Ramachandra are some of the mentors who will be part of the project, alongside chief mentor Geeta Dharmarajan. The finalists along with their teachers will attend a three-day workshop, Katha Utsav in New Delhi at the India Habitat Centre in December 2013, where the jury will announce the ‘Best Story’, ‘Best Poem’ and ‘Best Translation’ of the year.
I Love Reading is a platform not only for budding writers to put their best foot forward but also a chance for students to be recognised for their writing, poetry and translation talent, and get a chance to interact directly with professional writers, translators, publishers and literary agents. Participating students can count on getting some sound advice from prominent educators like Lata Vaidyanathan, Parvinder Kaur and Priyadarshini Kelkar for a future in the literary world.
