Reading and writing: Children’s literature festival on Nov 25 and 26

Organisers say festival is first of its kind in Pakistan, will promote literacy.

LAHORE:

A two-day Children’s Literature Festival will be held at the Children’s Library Complex in Lahore on November 25 and 26, said representatives of the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agaahi (ITA) and the Oxford University Press (OUP) at a press conference on Tuesday.

Baela Raza Jamil and Ameena Sayyid, the founders of the Children’s Literature Festival (CLF), said this would be the first festival of its kind and aimed to promote creativity and writing by encouraging children to read books. It would be a national-level festival, they said.

The two-day festival will be open between 10am and 5pm and include places where children could listen to their favourite stories, learn the art of creative writing and book reviews, attend puppet shows, and buy books.

There will be reading and writing competitions and cartoon presentations, as well as sessions on local languages, they said.

The festival is being organised by the Children’s Library Complex (CLC) and the Foundation of Open Society Institute (FOSI).

Nargis Sultana from the FOSI, Dr Narmeen Hamid from the ITA, and Nadeem Alam Butt and Dr Arifa Syeda Zehra from the CLC and CLF also spoke at the press conference.

Education Department representatives Zakia Shahnawaz and Islam Siddique and Punjab Education Foundation Chairman Raja Mohammad Anwer were in attendance.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2011.