Registrations for Vizag Junior Literary Fest open on October 24; fest on November 21, 22

Young readers in Visakhapatnam can look forward to a weekend of stories, creativity and literary adventures as registrations open for the fifth edition of the Vizag Junior Literary Fest (VJLF) on October 24. VJLF is scheduled to be held at Hawa Mahal on Beach Road on November 21 and 22. Organised by Lit Lantern for Culture & Literature Welfare Society, a registered non-profit organisation, the festival is designed for children aged four to 16 years.

The two-day event will feature around 100 sessions covering creative writing, storytelling, book readings, puppetry, author interactions and discussions for parents and teachers. Sessions will be grouped into three age categories: four to seven years, eight to 12 years and 13 to 16 years, allowing children to participate in activities suited to their age groups.

Registrations for these sessions will begin at 10 a.m. on October 24 at three locations: Tanishq showroom on VIP Road, Pages Bookstore at Rednam Gardens and BookMagic Library in Lawsons Bay Colony. The registration fee for each of the limited seating sessions is ₹250, while the open sessions are free.

The festival will bring together around 20 authors, illustrators, storytellers and performing artists. Authors Shweta Taneja, Samina Mishra, Varsha Seshan, Sanjay Arora, Anushka Ravishankar and Vikas Joshi will lead interactive sessions, while illustrators Canato Jimo, Sonal Gupta Vaswani and Monica Tata will engage children through their work and creative practices.

Storytellers Akanksha Datta, Vinita Zutshi, Vanita Shah, Neha Singh, Lopamundra Mohanty and Shyama Pannikar will present stories from different traditions and settings. Ayisha Begum will conduct workshops on emotional well-being, while mime artist Kunal Motling and clown Rahul Joshi will lead sessions for children. Padmini Rangarajan will conduct sessions in Telugu, adding a regional-language component to the programme.

Both days will conclude with evening performances that are open to all. The festival will also feature a bookstore offering more than 1,000 titles from Indian publishers. Entry to the event is free, although some sessions will have limited seating and require prior registration.

Detailed information about the festival and its sessions is available at www.litlantern.in and on the festival’s Facebook page @VizagLitFest and Instagram handle @litlantern. For enquiries, parents, students and schools may contact festival directors Priya at 9866628484, Sonal at 9985122022 or Sandhya at 9849117400.