An enthralling two-days of storytelling, narration and theatre took place in the city of destiny by some of the most revered authors from India and abroad.
The Vizag Junior Literary Fest 2024 (VJLF 2024) kicked off in Visakhapatnam among much fanfare providing children and their parents a chance to interact and experience first-hand sessions with famous writers, illustrators, storytellers and publishers.
Over 86 sessions were held over 2 days enthralling both children and parents.
‘We are overwhelmed by the response given by both students and parents. This has only given us encouragement to do more such events’ said Mrs Sandhya Godey, director of the event speaking to Vizag Industrial Scan.
This year’s speaker lineup saw an impressive array of storytellers some of whom included the likes of Mr Anupam Arunachalam, Ms Archana Mohan, Ms Bijal Vachharajani, Mr Ashok Rajagopalan, Ms. Ramya Srinidhi, Ms. Jeeva Raghunath and many more.
Among the speakers that stole the show with her art of narration was Ms Bongiswa a Storyteller all the way from South Africa.
Conducted for students between the ages of 4 to 16 years students also got to witness live enactment of ancient Indian folk tales such as Vikram Betaal, Panchatantra and many more.
‘We have carefully articulated the sessions wherein children get a chance to closely interact with authors and also get tips on writing stories’ said Mrs Priya Uppalapati, one of the directors of the fest.
In addition, the fest had a unique curated collection of children’s books from publishers which were available for purchase at the Book Fair.
‘We also had workshops and live performances for the benefit of students’ said Mrs Sonal Sarda, director of the event.
Visakhapatnam’s Lok Sabha member Mr M Sri Bharat participated as chief guest at the event and lauded the organisers for bringing back a fading practice.
‘This a great event and it’s good to see the organizers bring back our very own Literature, mythology, history, and importantly the love of writing and reading to our students’ said Mr Sri Bharat.
