Shelf-Aware: Neev Festival Proves Stories Still Have Spine

This weekend, the Neev Literature Festival 2025 unfolded at Neev Academy in Yemalur, Bengaluru, transforming the campus into a vibrant hub of storytelling, reflection, and literary activism. Now in its ninth edition, the festival drew over 2,000 visitors across two days, reaffirming its mission to nurture young readers and challenge the dominance of digital distractions. With the theme Stories Make Us Human, this year’s gathering was not just a celebration of books—it was a call to action.

A Festival Rooted in Purpose

The festival’s founder, Kavita Gupta Sabharwal, set the tone with a powerful reminder: India’s children’s literature market is still underdeveloped, valued at less than Rs 800 crores, while countries like the US and China boast markets over 20 times larger. She emphasized the urgent need to invest in stories that reflect Indian lives, traditions, and mythologies, rather than chasing social media trends.

Key highlights from the opening address:

- Only 23 percent of 10th-grade students in India read at grade level  
- Half of 5th graders read at a grade-2 level  
- The festival aims to build a robust ecosystem for children’s literature through fellowships and curated programming  
- A Rs 6 lakh fellowship was announced to support Indian children’s book creators  

Sessions That Stirred Minds and Hearts

Across 134 sessions featuring 80 delegates, the festival offered a rich tapestry of conversations, performances, and provocations. International and Indian authors came together to explore storytelling as a tool for empathy, identity, and resistance.

Notable sessions included:

- Sam Leith and Anthony McGowan traced the evolution of children’s literature and its role in shaping emotional intelligence  
- Pablo Cartaya and McGowan led The Noise Inside Boys, a session on how stories can help boys navigate vulnerability and break stereotypes  
- Historian Devika Rangachari spotlighted forgotten women rulers and the erasure of their stories from mainstream history  
- Author Mamta Nainy conducted an interactive session on prejudice, using colored tokens to simulate exclusion and spark dialogue on untouchability  

Children React, Reflect, Respond

One of the most poignant moments came during Mamta Nainy’s session, where children were given colored tokens and only certain colors were allowed to answer questions. When a child was excluded, they responded, We felt very bad, and that was not fair. All the questions should be answered by everybody. This moment captured the festival’s ethos—stories are not just entertainment, they are instruments of justice.

Other interactive highlights:

- Hands-on workshops in comic art, photography, and product design at the NLF Pop-Up  
- Author meet-and-greets that encouraged children to ask questions and share their own stories  
- Reading corners and curated book stalls featuring over 2,000 titles  

A Platform for Indian Storytellers

The Neev Book Award continued to spotlight distinguished children’s literature that deepens understanding of Indian lives. Past winners like Andaleeb Wajid have shown how local narratives can resonate globally. This year’s programming reinforced the need for stories that reflect India’s pluralism, complexity, and everyday heroism.

Festival goals moving forward:

- Encourage authors to write beyond Western tropes and embrace Indian storytelling traditions  
- Build bridges between educators, publishers, and young readers  
- Use literature as a tool to address social issues like caste, gender, and climate change  

Final Thought

In an age of algorithmic attention and shrinking attention spans, the Neev Literature Festival 2025 stands tall as a sanctuary for stories that matter. It reminds us that reading is not just a skill—it’s a lifeline. And for the children of Bengaluru and beyond, this festival is a doorway to worlds where they can imagine, question, and belong.

Sources: Deccan Herald, Neev Literature Festival Official Website, YourStory, Mint