Children's literary festivals are a Disneyland of books. Amid the bunting and balloons, stories and characters leap off the page in dramatic readings and performances. One Indian festival, however, believes that there is scope to do much more with the format. Hosted by Neev Academy, an International Baccalaureate school in Yemalur, Bengaluru, the year-old Neev Literature Festival pushes the boundaries by focussing not just on children, but also parents, teachers, librarians and educators, drawing them into a conversation about reading, writing, and everything else attached to the spine.
It was conceived by the founder of the school, Kavita Gupta Sabharwal, “with the goals of growing readers for life, and making reading part of every home”. The second edition has rounded up 67 speakers and workshop leaders from India and abroad — more than double last year’s count. A new addition this year is a day dedicated to teachers and librarians, with workshops on subjects like curating libraries and unlearning gender stereotypes.
Activities for children include book readings and workshops on subjects like character sketching, poetry-writing and picture books. Day three of the festival, which is open to the public, will feature nine panel discussions and 13 interactive sessions on inclusiveness, history, mythology and nature
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This year, the festival unveils its annual book award, with a citation and cash prize of ₹1,00,000 for the winners in three categories — picture books, young readers and young adults. A nine-person jury, consisting of educators, writers and three librarians, shortlisted 22 books from a longlist of 94 entries.
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