Bookaroo Children’s Literature Festival

It all started with a Lounge article on the Hay-on-Wye festival in the UK. “I was intrigued by the idea of a festival like this and asked Jo (Williams), a regular customer at our store (also a former organizer of the Red House Children’s Book Award in the UK), to explain the concept. As my partner and I heard more about it, we wanted to do something on the same lines but for children,” says Swati Roy, co-owner, Eureka Children’s Bookstore, New Delhi, publisher of Heek, a magazine for children, and one of the organizers of the Bookaroo Children’s Literature Festival 2008.

Her partner and Lounge’s Under 15 columnist M. Venkatesh, along with Anita Roy, commissioning editor, Young Zubaan; Jo Williams; Anushka Ravishankar, author and editor with Scholastic India; Manisha Chaudhry, commissioning editor, Pratham Books; and author Subhadra Sen Gupta have put together the country’s first children’s literature festival, which starts in New Delhi next Saturday. “Unlike most children’s book fairs in India, we are not focusing solely on book sales. This festival will be a platform where children’s books will be viewed not just as objects, but as gorgeous, bouncy trampolines which will encourage their imagination and creativity,” says Anita.