The corridors of Mahadevi Birla World Academy echoed with excited conversation and interactions as the school, along with Storyteller Bookstore, organised a literature festival on November 15 and 16 for students of Classes I to VIII. Six authors engaged with over 2,000 students over two days, discussing literature, the art of writing and illustration, wellness and more.
My Kolkata dropped in to experience the one-of-a-kind school literature festival.
Curator-speak
The literary festival was aimed at inculcating a love for reading in children and expose them to the world of literature and knowledge beyond the four walls of a classroom or school books.
Anjana Saha, principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, underlined the need to enjoy reading. “Reading has to be an activity for pleasure and enjoyment apart from enrichment. Once we engage children in reading pleasurably, I think the information and knowledge part will follow. The whole attempt is to start a culture of reading in school and this kind of interaction with authors is a never-before experience for the students,” she said.
Talking about the role of the library, Saha said: “Apart from the usual issuing of books, we have several activities in the library. We believe that the library is no longer a silent zone. It has become a hub for thought processes and a stimulator of change. We have a lot of storytelling that we use as part of our pedagogy. We also have a lot of reading partnership exercises where we involve the community in reading exercises where the students become leaders and show the path for reading by having activities and helping students who come from lesser privileged sections of society.”
Anjana Saha, principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy
Amit DattaNupur Ghosh, vice-principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, spoke about the battle between books and screen. “Reading is important but it is becoming extinct. This is what we have been noticing among children over the years, especially now after the pandemic when they are hooked on to their screens. Digital detox is necessary. We have always wanted to host a literary meet. When I spoke to my children, they were keen on meeting authors and interacting with them. The main aim is to get children to read, to get them to fall in love with physical books all over again.”
Mayura Misra, owner of Storyteller Bookstore, spoke about the choice of authors for the festival. “I thought we have to promote Kolkata authors. They have been coming to the bookstore and they have been wanting to come to schools and interact with children. This is something we were doing on a regular basis before COVID happened. But now we thought that we should start doing that once again.”
“We have invited diverse authors — Pragati Jalan Surekha for Hope: Stories for a Healthy Mind; Lesley Biswas’s book [A Conspiracy in Calcutta] has a very Kolkata-based story; we have Madhurima Vidyarthi’s My Grandmother’s Masterpiece; Nita Bajoria’s book Myra and the Secret Library; and of course, Harsho Mohan Chattoraj’s graphic novel [Chakrapurer Chakkare]. Swati Kheria is a storyteller who got her props to engage the audience. The students would get the chance to engage with a wide variety of authors,” Misra said.
Nupur Ghosh, vice principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy
Amit Datta“Children today are visual learners and the decision to include a graphic novelist was deliberate. Graphic novels are a hit with children. If we want them to read then we also have to change our perspective. Graphic novels also happen to be a part of our syllabus from Classes III to VI,’’ Ghosh said.
Unlocking the secrets of writing with Nita Bajoria
Author Nita Bajoria interacts with the students at the literary meet
Amit DattaAuthor Nita Bajoria, whose latest novel Myra and the Secret Library, was recently released at Storyteller Bookstore on the occasion of Children’s Day, addressed students from Class VII. She discussed her book and made an interactive presentation in which she shared the basics of the art of writing with the young attendees.
Trisha Sanwaria, who attended the session, commented, “I really love to write stories and I had a very joyful and interesting experience with the ideas that she gave us about how we can write a story or design the cover pages, and come up with titles. The moment we have an idea, we have to jot it down, and not just leave it as a mental note. This is my biggest takeaway from today’s session.”
Learning the ABCs with Swati Kheria
Author Swati Kheria uses a hand puppet during her interaction with the young students
Soumyajit DeySwati Kheria’s session was all about colours, excited chatter and laughter as she visually demonstrated concepts from her book ABC Safari. Instead of sticking to the very ordinary ‘A for apple, B for ball’ routine, Kheria in her book brings in a fun twist by giving the young learners a scope to learn the alphabet with their favourite jungle animals. On the two days of the fest, Swati addressed students of Classes I and II and kept them engaged with her storytelling, drawing and more.
Students pose with Swati Kheria and her book ‘ABC Safari’
Soumyajit Dey“I think young children love stories, they take inspiration from the characters and try to imitate them and imbibe those characteristics in their daily life. So I think stories are a place to expose them to such values and encourage their value system. I have just started off the journey with one book — ABC Safari — but there’s more to come in the series wherein kids can learn simple concepts in a joyful manner which gives them room to explore and learn better. Stories are a very important tool of education. I have been sharing stories to teach math, art and grammar concepts. Today if I tell you something you will imbibe it faster if I explain it with a story,” Kheria said.
Exploring graphic novels with Harsho Mohan Chattoraj
Harsho Mohan Chattoraj’s graphic novel Chakrapurer Chakkare, translated to English from Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s Bengali novel, has won the hearts of many children. In the book, they have got a story to read and also engaging illustrations to follow. Harsho not only spoke about graphic novels and illustrations but also conducted a workshop with the students of Classes V and VI where they were encouraged to make their own illustrations on ghosts, coronavirus, food or a topic of their choice.
Harsho Mohan Chattoraj’s workshop about graphic novels and illustrations in progress
Soumyajit Dey‘’I started doing comics at the age of five and six because I loved comics. At that time, we had Bantul the Great, Handa Bhonda as well as Tintin and Asterix, not to mention DC and Marvel which were doing the rounds at that time. One thing was we helped each other by reading more comics which is one area Kolkata lacks in. Although school libraries have lots of comics, there are no proper guidelines for students to read and understand the art. I had a workshop and the students showed their interest in the subject,’’ Chattoraj said.
Book cover of ‘Chakrapurer Chakkare’, Harsho Mohan Chattoraj’s graphic novel
Soumyajit DeyEva Ghosh of Class VI was delighted to attend the session. “He asked us to make a comic book of our own. He gave us several topics to choose from. I chose food and the title of my comic was The Land of the Tastiest Food. It’s a fictional story. I liked the session. It was great interacting with him. I loved drawing and expressing my feelings through comics.’’
Understanding an author’s journey with Madhurima Vidyarthi
The author of My Grandmother’s Masterpiece interacted with students of Class IV and spoke about her journey as an author. She also answered several queries from the students about her writing, her book, how to become a writer and more.
Author Madhurima Vidyarthi during her session with the students
Amit Datta“It was lovely, exciting, engaging and very stimulating. These were nine to 11-year-olds and the questions they asked were amazing. I think [events like this] are of paramount importance. We talk to other people about our books but we don’t actually get to talk to readers. It's always best to talk to your target audience. I have had feedback from grown-ups about the book but this was the targeted age group because it's being marketed as a book for eight to 11-year-olds. They [the student attendees] belonged to this age group and the feedback that I have got has been wonderful,’’ Vidyarthi said.
Talking about mental health with Pragati Jalan Sureka
Author Pragati Jalan Sureka talks with students of Class III
Soumyajit DeyThe subject of mental health is often treated as a stigma and conversations about it mostly take place behind closed doors. Pragati’s book, Hope, tries to normalise such conversations by talking about the mental health of children.
Pragati Jalan Sureka’s book, ‘Hope’
Soumyajit DeyShe engaged students of Class III in an open conversation about themselves and their surroundings and gave them tips from her book about how to lead a healthy life.
Going back in time with Lesley D. Biswas
Author Lesley D. Biswas with her book ‘A Conspiracy in Calcutta’ in hand
Soumyajit DeyA Conspiracy in Calcutta is set in the pre-Independence era where a young child Bithi faces a dilemma as she finds herself eager to contribute to the freedom movement but also realises that her choice to do so might affect her friend who is due to get married soon. Engaging the students of Class VIII, Lesley D. Biswas spoke to them about her writing journey and about the book.
