Children’s literature festival Aviva Bookaroo is back in the city for the fourth year. Several city schools are joining the three-day festival, which aims at bringing children and books together, on Friday at Sanskriti Kendra on the Mehrauli Gurgaon Road. The world of books will be open for all word lovers on Saturday and Sunday.
Writers, illustrators, storytellers, actors and a paper magician from all across the world will join the mission to bring children and books together locally, regionally and globally.
The event features national and international authors in democratic settings with a firm first-come-first-seated policy. Not only will the festival encourage children to meet and talk to creative personalities, they will also see how books are made, how they “come alive” through dramatic readings and activities, and how narration of a story impacts imagination.
Some of the authors and illustrators at Bookaroo 2011 include Adeline Foo, Christopher Cheng, Gregory Hughes, John Dougherty, Paro Anand, Jeeva Ragunath, Margaret Read MacDonald, Subhad-ra Sen Gupta, Tapas Guha, Prashani Rambukwella, Sandhya Rao, Martin Widmark, Helen Rundgren, Malika Doray, Atanu Roy, Priya Kuriyan, Deepa Balasavar, Satoshi Kitamura, Shamini Flint, Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore.
The last two days at the festival have been divided into nine sections – Kahani Tree, The Pavilion, Studio, Workshop, Amphitheatre, The Glade, Crafty Corner, Doodle Wall and Think Tank.
Characters like Aunty Mouse, Sri Devi — The Proud Hen, Misbehaving Alphabets, Veggie Cheetah and The Ghost with a wonderful sense of humour will weave a world of magic for kids. While some sessions will bring out the nuances of creating plots and characters, others will focus on introducing the attendees to the skill of narrating one’s own short stories and adapting them to the format of drama.