Hyderabad: Hyderabad is all set to host its very first Story Arts Festival this weekend. The city’s first edition of the festival, which aims at promoting young authors between the ages of 6 and 15, will also see the launch of a book by children.
Among the stories by young Hyderabadi authors are futuristic ones of Martians taking over the planet to more profound thoughts about losing the present while planning the future.
Shreyas Badami, at just 11, surprises with his maturity, “I co-authored the story called The Last Stand, which is about a Martian taking over Earth and how a resistance is born.”
Meanwhile, 10-year-old twins, Vevek and Navyaa, together wrote a story titled The House By The Sea. Vevek, who has always loved reading, says: “I wanted to give writing a try to put in my own ideas and creativity.”
Another 11-year-old author, Sai Priya, who reads Carolyn Keene, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and others, contributed a haiku, “Inspired by mother nature. “Since the beginning I always loved creative writing exercises. Writing helps me in creating a world of my choice, in the way I like it,” she says.
The collection of short stories and haikus, titled A Better World, is slated to be launched on July 13 by non-profit Nivasi Publishers. “The money from the book sales will go to the Autism Society of Andhra Pradesh,” says Nivedita N., a co-founder.
At the event this weekend, the festival will “have art and story sessions for hearing impaired and non-sighted children too”.
Nivedita adds, “The idea behind having these children write books is the need for encouraging reading and writing. But the stories and poems make for such good reads because children are so free in their expressions and there are no inhibitions in their expressions.”
The other two co-founders and also the editors of the books, writers Cheryl Rao and Sharoon Sunny, facilitated the creative writing of the children through a summer workshop in Hyderabad and Bengaluru respectively.
