Renée Watson Unveils the Magic of Poetry

By Vaishali Basu, Educator As the sun dipped low on the second day of the Neev Literature Festival, Stage #2 resonated with the vibrant energy of words as Renée Watson took the stage for “Poetry that Speaks to Multiple Identities.” A champion of celebrating the ordinary, Renée shared insights into her poetic philosophy, urging the […]

Vaccines for Smartypants—Anushka Ravishankar

By Diya Shetty, Grade 11 As noon struck on the first day of NLF 2023, an ebullient group of Smartypants fans awaited their Masterclass with Anushka Ravishankar, award-winning author of numerous books, Vaccines for Smartypants being the latest. Anushka began by discussing her creation of a character like Smartypants the cat. There were parallels with […]

Breaking Biases: Dismantle Stereotypes—Masterclass with Divya Anand

By Diya Shetty, Grade 11 For her masterclass, titled “Breaking Biases”, author Divya Anand was greeted by a room packed with enthusiastic children. A quick poll revealed that every one of them had read Misfit Madhu, Divya’s book about a girl in 7th grade who builds an app that goes viral. Divya began taking us […]

Worlds Within and Apart—Devashish Makhija and Chatura Rao

By Kabir Basu, Grade 11 More than providing the right answers, the session “Worlds Within and Apart”—featuring author, journalist and educator Chatura Rao (How Mohan Found Himself) alongside filmmaker and writer Devashish Makhija (translator of We are the Dancing Forest)—was really about asking the right questions. Before reading excerpts from their books, both authors shared […]

No Holds Barred with Ashim Ahluwalia

By Jyothsana Narasimhan, Educator In the world of cinema, there are filmmakers who adhere to conventional storytelling and then there are those who push the boundaries – Ashim Ahluwalia belongs to the family of the latter wherein his films and series delve into the unconventional and the tabooed. Ahluwalia’s films challenge traditional narratives and take […]

Adaptation – Retelling, Rewriting, and Renewing

By Anya Shenoy, Grade 10 The excitement hung in the air on Day 2 of NLF. Some fresh faces appeared, while others returned for a fun-filled day. Of the numerous activities available, some of the most insightful were the masterclasses. Authors from far and wide gathered to talk about their stories.  One of the masterclasses […]

Nidhi Sudhan
on Living in the Age of AI

By Kabir Basu, Grade 10 Artificial intelligence, social media and technology have undoubtedly become a massive part of our lives, and an interactive session by Nidhi Sudhan, a responsible media advocate and co-founder of Citizen Digital Foundation (CDF) effectively captured the combination of wonder and fear that conflicts us when thinking about what the future […]

A Masterclass in Empathy

By Devyanshi Chakraborty, Grade 10 In a masterclass led by Neev Book Award winning author Nandita da Cunha, we embarked on a journey into the heart of storytelling through the lens of empathy. This transformative session opened our minds to the power of understanding and harnessing empathy as a vital component in the writer’s toolkit. […]

Takeaways from NLF 2023

By Anaaya Kanchan, Grade 8  The Neev Literature Festival was a 2-day event packed with performances, sessions, talks, masterclasses and readings. Authors and performers from around the world and the country came together to speak and perform to a large and diverse audience, leaving all of us with a vast wealth of knowledge and experiences.  […]

Growing Historical Awareness – A Masterclass with Hannah Lalhlanpuii

By Sanjana Garg, Grade 10 Participants at the Neev Literature Festival 2023 conversed with author Hannah Lalhlanpuii, whose debut novel When Blackbirds Fly was shortlisted for the Neev Book Award 2023 in the Young Adult category. This book, set in the early years of Mizoram’s two-decade quest for independence, against the backdrop of the Aizawl […]