Via Mita Kapur of
Siyahi.
Celebrating children's literature with Bookaroo Children's Literature Festival 2008, the first ever in IndiaBookaroo, the first children's literature festival in India will take place in Delhi on Saturday 22nd November and Sunday 23rd November, 2008 from 10 am to 5 pm. The venue for the festival is Sanskriti Anand Gram on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road.
The festival kicks off with an outreach programme on November 19 and 20th, 2008. There will be events with Hindi Books at 700 schools across Delhi in collaboration with Pratham, Delhi on these two days.
Slated to be an annual event, the festival has been organised by a consortium of publishers, booksellers, writers and book-lovers, including Manisha Chaudhry (Pratham Books), Eureka-Heek (bookstore and children's magazine), HarperCollins, Anushka Ravishankar (author), Siyahi, the literary consultancy, Subhadra Sengupta (author), Jo Williams (former organizer of the Red House Children's Book Award, UK), and. Zubaan,
The sessions will be conducted by over 40 men and women who have done extraordinary work in the field of children's literature and publishing , both in India and internationally. It will give children an opportunity to meet Indian and international authors too. Bookaroo's list of authors, poets, illustrators and speakers features Anita Roy, Anshumani Ruddra, Anushka Ravishankar, Bulbul Sharma, Bhajju Shyam, Jeff Smith, Jo Williams, Kalpana Swaminathan, Paro Anand, Ranjit Lal, Rukmini Banerji, Sampurna Chattarji, Sandhya Rao, Stephen Guy, Tabish Khair, Venita Coelho and Wendy Cooling among many others.
Publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Pratham Books, Scholastic, Tara, Tulika and Young Zubaan are participating and supporting the festival.
The aim of Bookaroo Children's Literature Festival is to expose children to the joys of reading. This is a one-of-its-kind event that focuses on the role of books in shaping children's lives. Each of the sessions will be highly-interactive with activities, workshops, plays, games, comics, storytelling and lessons in creativity.
Says Anita Roy, one of the organisers of the festival: "The Bookaroo festival is all about bringing together kids with the people who actually make the books that they love. They'll get to meet some of the best authors and illustrators, and not just hear and see stories performed but also learn about how a book is made. We're hoping that it will be a genuinely useful platform for authors, publishers, booksellers, parents and teachers to meet and exchange ideas. It's about celebrating the world of children's literature in all its marvellous variety. After all, in a country with the largest population of kids in the world, it's about time we had a literature festival just for them!"
According to M Venkatesh, publisher, Heek, a magazine for children and partner, Eureka! Bookstore, "There has been a growing interest in reading thanks to proactive parents and focused school activities. We think the time has come to give children an exclusive platform like Bookaroo for their literary needs - away from screens of any kind and size. We hope that the annual Bookaroo festivals will sharpen that interest in books and take young readers to the next level of involvement with good literature."
Bookaroo Children's Literature Festival - November 22 and 23, 2008
Time: 10 AM to 5 PM (both days)
Venue: Sanskriti Anand Gram, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, Delhi
Outreach programme across the city - November 19th and 20, 2008
Contact Details: -
For more information log on to: www.bookaroo.in or mail to info@bookaroo.in
Parents can register their children by mailing to registrations@bookaroo.in (see age-wise programme schedule on www.bookaroo.in). Alternatively, you could call 011-26021092 (Eureka! Bookstore) or 011-26521008 (Zubaan Books).
For further information, call Anita Roy on 9810799273
For media queries and setting up interviews:
Subhadra Sengupta : 9811892060
Mita Kapur : 91 98292 92244
Labels: children's literature, festival
