«Bibliophile bytes. During the @neevlitfest many things were discussed deeply, like for children discover boundaries through literature; the changing reading patterns in a digital world... The questions on the future of Indian literature came up repeatedly»

Bindu Gopal Rao
The Hindu (@the_hindu)

«The third edition of the Neev Literature Festival (@neevlitfest) closed successfully, with a host of book launches, workshops, a curated book exhibition and fun activities ensuring that there is much hope for children’s literature in the country.

»The bright yellow rimmed spectacles next to the hashtag neevlitfest19 welcomed me to the Yemlur campus of Neev Academy for the two-day literature festival for children. Organised by Neev Academy, the event was a huge success that had 2000 plus children, 67 authors, illustrators and librarians from across the country and the world, parents and educators in attendance. With a motley set of events spanning book launches, literature conversations, storytelling sessions, book readings, workshops for children, teachers/librarians and parents, the two days were filled with all things literature.

»Speaking on the event, Kavita Gupta Sabharwal, Co-founder of Neev Literature Festival said, “this year we changed the programme from how authors work to the issues that matter in children's reading. Over the two days, many things were discussed deeply, like how to think about your own child’s reading and how to not fall into the zone of least resistance. Listening to so many speakers tell us that reading is paramount, but don’t control what your child reads. For children discover boundaries through literature. The changing reading patterns in a digital world. The questions on the future of Indian literature came up repeatedly as well, including with Devdutt Pattanaik, who shared in his keynote ‘Indian stories are wonderful because they have many layers.” Authors Paro Anand and Roopa Pai launched their books Being Gandhi' and 'From Leeches To Slug Glue' respectively.

»The panel discussions had interesting topics like The Power of Language – Shrinking expression, Local Books Going Global and revival of storytelling among others. Speaking on a session of Revival of Story Telling, Jeeva Raghunath, Storyteller & Author said, “the need of the hour is that families must involve in quality time sharing stories which is a strong bonding tool. No matter how technology develops, live connection is the best. Plus let’s not leave aside stories from other cultures as now the world can be enclosed in a fist.” Likewise in the session, ‘Local Books Going Global’, Shobha Viswanath, Author & Publisher Karadi Tales added, “there are two ways a book goes global. When children’s books published in India capture the imagination of foreign publishers who then want to make the book available to the children of their country in their language by translating them and when foreign distributors like an Indian publisher’s list and think it is worthy and commercially viable to distribute them in the countries where they trade”».

.../... Read the entire report on The Hindu