BHUBANESWAR: The seventh edition of National Children Literary Festival was flagged off at KIIT International School here recently. Over 500 students from across the state and outside participated in the two-day literary festival as budding authors, illustrators and literary entertainers sat listening to the dignitaries on dais.
Mona Lisa Bal, chairperson, KIIT International School, welcomed the authors and encouraged the participants to engage with the litterateurs wholeheartedly. “These two days at NCLF will be a favourite tick mark in your life calendar as a meaningful experience and perhaps, you will know yourself better. Fiction augments reality innately for us, human beings. So explore that world of fiction and fantasy with imagination and communication.”
Achyuta Samanta, Member of Parliament and Founder, KIIT and KISS graced the inaugural function. In his address, he said, “NCLF reflects the KIIT philosophy of educational statesmanship as we envisioned an exclusive literary meet for teenagers, and seven years later, we are still the only organization that hosts a literary fest for young emerging adults.”
He also mentioned that NCLF is a platform for blurring barriers of experiential learning between privileged children and the underprivileged tribal students of KISS. Creativity and imagination is not the preserve of the rich and the fortunate. Opportunity and exposure is what brings out the best in all.
Vaijayanti Tonpe, a children’s author by choice said that Indian writing in English is poised to come of age and festival like NCLF provide the ideal platform to help children shrug off the burden of imitation and emerge out of the shadows of ‘English writers’ and find their niche, by being true to their identity.
This festival was organised for the first time under the mentor-ship of Ruskin Bond, the internationally acclaimed children’s writer in 2013 and since then has grown in popularity and commands a unique position among the various literary festivals for children in the country.
Ruchira Das, founder and director, ThinkArts, with Tamali Bhattacharya, core administrator and Abheri Dutta, core member, ThinkArts, conducted sessions in creative writing with the participants. ‘Build your own stories’ gave the students an exposure to link art and literature.
Rituparna Ghosh’s sessions were packed with creativity, imagination and passion for reviving the art of storytelling in order to discover the innate storyteller within us. In her session, Ray adapted a story of Satyajit Ray to give the audience a feel of how stories can come alive with one’s own interpretation of it.
Ajit Narayan, well known illustrator and cartoonist has been a pioneer with his workshops for students. He engaged the participants with a wide variety of practical hands-on exercises designed to develop and strengthen key skills. The students were delighted with insider tips, and master special techniques that he shared with them.
On the second and concluding day of the literary festival, a theatre group from Mumbai ‘Tamaasha’ presented a children’s play ‘Jhoom Jhoom Jhumpa’. The play was written and directed by Sapan Saran.
The play presents a magical world of Ul-Albela, where Jhumpa, an orphan armed with a hamper of curiosity and spirit of adventure takes a seemingly innocuous decision. And what is that decision? Jhumpa wants to make the best tea in the world. As she takes on the mantle to be the best tea maker, she’s unaware of the hornet’s nest she has stirred in the Bat Kingdom.The Raja’s bumbling,floundering ministers are desperate to please their aggressively competitive king! And Jhumpa’s tea making quest becomes an adventure that unfolds when the two worlds, Jhumpa’s and the Bat Kingdom’s, collide! Will Jhumpa’s life ever be the same again?
