The festival will be held at the Neev Academy Campus, Bengaluru, on September 24 and 25
The annual Neev Literature Festival (NLF), which celebrates children’s books, will be back physically after being online for the last two years due to the pandemic. The festival in Bengaluru will be held at the Neev Academy Campus, Yemalur, on September 24 and 25.
The theme for this year’s festival, ‘Reading takes you places’, according to the organisers, focuses on the power of books to set one free to experience new places – real and imaginary – and explore various cultural perspectives.
The festival will host a myriad events with noted authors, librarians, award–winning filmmakers, and storytellers discussing and interacting with the audience on a plethora of topics. It features over 92 sessions with over 60 speakers enlightening young minds on topics ranging from climate change to writing from conflict zones.
Roopa Pai, Anushka Ravishankar, Paro Anand, Jane De Suza, Samina Mishra, Venita Coelho, Shabnam Minawalla, Sandhya Rao, Bijal Vaccharajani, Arundhati Venkatesh, and Menaka Raman are among the speakers
Attendees can also check out a curated marketplace of books for readers of all ages.
The festival also will release a report, ‘State of Indian Children’s Writing’, which talks about how the children’s book market is small and dominated by Western titles. “The profession of children’s writing must also become more financially sustainable in India,” says Kavita Gupta Sabharwal, co-founder and curator of the festival.
“The Neev Literature Festival in its sixth edition aims to evangelise the power of reading for lifelong learning, and the power of Indian stories for building identity,” she adds, “With changing family structures and constant digital invasion, children’s books are now the literary mirrors, and windows to the whole world of possibility. Indian books, meanwhile, focussed on personal chronology, mythology and folk tales are wonderful, but must also convey the Ideas of India@75 and the hopes of India@100.”
On the first day, the jury members of the Neev Book Award will announce the winners in all the four categories: Early Years (5-7 years), Emerging Readers (6-8 years), Junior Readers (9-12 years), and Young Adult (13-18 years).
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