Meet us at the Bangalore Literature Festival

“As part of the run-up to the BLF, we created an outreach programme, during which we organized reading and storytelling sessions in various Bangalore schools in collaboration with Pratham Books,” says Shinie Antony, co-founder of the festival who has also authored a children’s book, ‘Goddy Tales’. Close to 1,000 children from various city schools were entertained by authors like Roopa Pai, Kanchan Bannerjee, Radha HS, Mala Kumar and Vidya Mani, translators Bhavya M and Meera Tushar, and author-illustrator Greystroke. 

During the three-day event, three sessions with children will run parallel with the festival proper. On Saturday, Pratham Books founder and author Rohini Nilekani will interact with kids while reading from her book ‘Annual Haircut Day’. “The children’s section at BLF is a small step towards creating a larger ecosystem for children’s writing in Bangalore and in the country; an ecosystem that will include writers, illustrators, designers and readers and will foster the growth of this often-neglected section of Indian writing,” says Nilekani.

Pratham Books editor author Mala Kumar will take an interesting session on Sunday, that will incorporate reading (from her Rituchakra series of books on India’s seasons) and music, with vocalist Manoj Seshan performing ragas associated with each season. 

Author Roopa Pai, whose fantasy series for young readers, Taranauts, was a huge hit at the recently concluded Bookaroo children’s litfest in Delhi, will also conduct a session on Sunday, on her other series ‘Sister Sister’, answering questions that will demystify science.