by Katie Day September is #WorldKidLit month and this year the GLLI blog explored different aspects of #IndiaKidLit in the run-up to the 2022 Neev Literature Festival, a celebration of Indian children's literature held Sept 24 and 25 in Bangalore. Karthika Gopalakrishnan (Head of Reading at Neev Academy and the Director of the Neev Literature Festival) … Continue reading #WorldKidLitMonth during September 2022 & #IndiaKidLit Wrap-up

by Nadine Bailey & Colin Kelman A question central to growing up is “Am I normal?” and books displaying diverse characters and settings with a range of emotions and experiences so that they mirror as many people as possible are a way of reassuring our young people that there is no one normal and they … Continue reading #INDIAKIDLIT – Neev Book Award 2022: Young Adult Books

by Gita Varadarajan 2021-22 saw a new crop of submissions for the Neev Book Award in the Junior Readers category, which included a variety of genre and formats. From biographies, retelling of Indian mythology and creative non-fiction to realistic fiction and fantasy, the books submitted this year represented not just diverse genre but also diverse … Continue reading #INDIAKIDLIT – Neev Book Award 2022: Junior Readers Category

by Ann Lazim The Neev Book Awards winners were announced on Saturday, September 24th, at the Neev Literature Festival in Bangalore, India. Yesterday we reported on the Early Years category of the award, with picture books for children aged 5 to 7. Now let's turn to the Emerging Readers category, which caters to eager beginning … Continue reading #INDIAKIDLIT – Neev Book Award 2022: Emerging Readers category

by Ann Lazim And the winners are….  Imagine the excitement on the Neev Literature Festival floor building as the awards begin to be announced. Parents, children, educators and librarians fill the main festival space brimming with chatter about their favorite books and preferences, each on the edge of their proverbial seats. The first category to … Continue reading #INDIAKIDLIT – Neev Book Award 2022: Early Years category

by Karthika Gopalakrishnan & Samantha Kokkat A festive atmosphere reigned on Day 1 of the 2022 Neev Literature Festival as readers of all ages came together to meet authors, as well as experience music, rhythm, and story. It began with Kapil Pandey, a storyteller and performer, setting the tone with the depiction of sailing on … Continue reading #INDIAKIDLIT – All the Places that Reading Takes You: the Neev Literature Festival

by Karthika Gopalakrishnan After three years of gathering at events online, authors, illustrators, and publishers came together at the Neev Book Award Retreat to discuss the space that Indian children’s publishing finds itself in and what can be done to go forward. This event was conducted to commemorate the fifth year of the award, ahead … Continue reading #INDIAKIDLIT – Looking Back, Looking Ahead at Indian Children’s Literature

by Kavita Gupta Sabharwal Lifelong learning depends on reading. Parents and teachers are aligned but need the ecosystem to create access and guide choices Jonas Salk - the inventor of the Polio vaccine - suggested the most important question to ask ourselves is, “Are we being good ancestors?” This question nudges us toward ethical choices … Continue reading #INDIAKIDLIT – Breeding Readers

by Karthika Gopalakrishnan Amish Tripathi Amish has always marched to the beat of his own drum.  From his 2010 decision to self-publish his debut work of fiction—The Immortals of Meluha, the first book in The Shiva Trilogy—a reimagined narrative of traditional Hindu mythology, to setting up the Immortal Writers’ Centre initiative today (similar to what … Continue reading #INDIAKIDLIT – Amish Tripathi on Books, Balance, and Building Bridges to One’s Culture

by Samantha Kokkat Paro Anand, a celebrated member of India’s children’s literature community, writes short stories, novels, plays and poetry for children and young adults. Paro Anand (image source: HarperCollins India) A fearless writer who has won accolades including the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar for her collection Wild Child and Other Stories, now … Continue reading #INDIAKIDLIT – Opening the Gates: Paro Anand on Diversity in Indian Children’s Literature