Ghummakkad Narain, children’s literature festival, begins today

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, Sept 14

‘Ghummakkad Narain’ — The Travelling Children’s Literature Festival will be held in Dehradun from September 15 to 16.

The two-day Dehradun leg of the festival will be held at Jaswant Modern School and Rashtriya Anushandhan School. The festival will thereafter travel to Delhi where ‘Kathakar’ — International Storytellers’ Festival will be organised from December 1 to 3 followed 

by Mumbai where the festival will be held from December 9 to 10.

Talking to The Tribune Rachna Bisht, organiser of the festival said, “It is the 8th anniversary of Ghummakkad Narain. We can say that we are proud of the festival. Imminent scholar late Thakur Vishva Narain’s dream of helping so many children get closer to books, to learn, dream and think has come to fruition.”

“Seeing the joy that books and stories bring to the lives of not just children but also adults makes all our struggles worth the effort. It is most fulfilling when you see children enjoy these sessions and take to reading,” she said.

The festival has been addressed by late President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr Shashi Tharoor, Margaret Alva, Sunil Shastri, Nandia Das, Sushma Seth, Emily Gravett, Joanne Blake, Tuup, Joseph Baele and Xanthe Gresham among others. 

The Travelling Children’s Literature Festival is a joint initiative of NIVESH and Himalayan Hub for Art and Cultural Heritage, which started under the aegis of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. The festival aims to celebrate reading with activities such as book reading, creative writing, illustration workshops, puppet shows, etc from a wide range of writers, illustrators and performers from both India and abroad. 

Travelling fest

• The two-day Dehradun leg of the festival will be held at Jaswant Modern School and Rashtriya Anushandhan School from Sep 15 to 16. 
• The festival will thereafter travel to Delhi where ‘Kathakar’ — International Storytellers’ Festival will be organised from December 1 to 3 followed by Mumbai where the festival will be held from December 9 to 10.