LitTales 2024 — Unleashing The Imaginations Of Young India

The Verandah Club, Coimbatore, seeks to bring about a cultural renaissance of India through activities which they have been reasonably successful through their magazine, Western Ghats Literature Festival for English and Kongu Tamil Sangamam for Tamil.

Realising the need to address the schoolchildren in their formative years, the Verandah Club conducted a Children’s Literature and Cultural Festival — LitTales at the Prakriya International School campus on 6 and 7 January 2024.

Themed "Imagine, Immerse, Illuminate", this festival had a host of activities that included author interactions, storytelling, interactive workshops, lecture demonstration on art, gymnastic performance through yoga and more.

The event was attended by over 400 children between Classes VI and XII from more than 10 schools.

LitTales was curated by best-selling author and curator of Indica Books — Sai Swaroopa Iyer.

The basics of how to write stories, imagining characters, creative thought process, building on aspirations, importance of being rooted were all dwelled upon. All the sessions were well received by the children and what stood out was the quality of questions which the young minds threw at the storytellers.

During the fest, a story writing competition themed “My Bharat, My Hero” has also been announced and the best entries will be rewarded and published as book curated by author Sai Swaroopa and will be launched in LitTales 2025.

Student engagement stood out in LitTales and was heartening to see Young India sharp and agile. Such initiatives are need of the hour and much more need to be done across the country.