Tenth edition of Neev Literature Festival to be held in Bengaluru

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At a previous edition of the festival | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

For Kavita Sabharwal, Founder and Head of School at Neev Schools, the Neev Literature Festival (NLF) has always had a straightforward raison d’être. “We wanted to make reading cool,” says the NLF co-founder, whose 10th edition will be held at the Neev Yemalur campus on September 26 and 27.

Reading, according to her, is hard work, which, unlike walking or talking, does not come naturally to human beings. “But once a child is hooked on reading, there is nothing like it,” says Kavita, who believes it fosters travel, curiosity and empathy. “It leads to strong writing, scientific thinking, debates and perspective. That is why we stay committed to it.

Kavita and her team are carrying this commitment forward through this festival, whose lineup will include 80 delegates, 105 sessions for children across different age groups with special events for parents and educators, and over 2,000 curated titles at the children’s book marketplace.

Some national and international stalwarts of children’s literature will speak on this occasion, including M.T. Anderson, Corinna Luyken, Frances Hardinge, Angie Kang, Anushka Ravishankar, Priya Kuriyan, and Bijal Vachharajani, among others. “We also have Amish (Tripathi), who is just getting into children’s books, doing a closing session for us,” says Karthika Gopalakrishnan, Head of Reading at Neev Academy and the festival’s director. The book, Dhruv-Tara & The Great Indian History Quiz, is the first of a seven-part series and “an attempt to get children to discover Indian history in an interesting manner.”

In addition to on-stage interactions, NLF will feature a mix of masterclasses for children and adults on writing, illustration, production, and publishing trends, book readings and signings, and the unveiling of the Neev Book Award for the best Indian children’s book, as well as the finals of the national NLF Reading Challenge Quiz, in which the top four teams, from a total of over 700, compete for a grand prize. “We launched the reading challenge during the pandemic, and that has exploded and become a national reading challenge,” says Kavita, who believes it is an interesting way for readers to connect. “The reading challenge has become an interesting way for kids who are readers to find community. And seeing that grow has been thrilling.”

For Karthika, the festival’s biggest appeal is seeing families together, spending time with books, buying books, and talking to authors. “This whole atmosphere of fun and celebration around books is really why we do what we do,” she says, adding that she has seen families return every year. “It has become a big part of their family calendar, where they all look forward to NLF because the children have such a good time here. It is exhilarating to be in the room.”

As always, the festival is organised around a specific theme, which underlines the transformative power of books and reading.