If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy
tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. -
Albert Einstein
The first edition of the Goa Book Fair is filled with excitement
as book lovers visiting the fair can select books from different genres and
languages by publishers and booksellers. With children enjoying themselves with
fun activity and avidly listening to stories, the ambience creates the want for
imagination and the need to read books that can educate and entertain.
Organised by The Dogears Bookshop, Margao, in association with Publishing Next,
The Goa Book Fair will be held till February 13 from 10 am to 8 pm, at Ravindra
Bhavan, Margao. The initiative is supported by the Ministry and Directorate of
Art and Culture, Government of Goa.
“The Goa Book Fair was conceived with the intention of bringing
booksellers and publishers under one roof so that readers in Goa would be able
to see the range of books available to them. Towards this objective, I think we
have succeeded, and it has been heartening to see that the people have
responded by visiting in large numbers,” says Leonard Fernandes, co-owner of
The Dogears Bookshop in Margão, which has organised the Goa Book Fair.
On February 10, Rajashree Bandodkar-Karapurkar, a lecturer of
Physics and an award-winning children’s author, read from her books in English
and Konkani. Satish De Sa of Wag Tales conducted a book reading and an
immersive story telling session around their new picture book ‘Where’s the
Giraffe?’ while Jessica Faleiro conducted a writing workshop for children above
the age of 8 years.
On February 9, noted author and founder of Saxtti Kids, a
pre-primary school in Carmon, Savia Viegas held a story reading session and
read the story of Donna, the Olive Ridley turtle, who swims to Galgibaga to lay
its eggs. The story was from her book ‘Tales from the Ocean.’ Today, February
11 at 4.30 pm, she will also read the story of dinosaurs, who ruled the earth a
million years ago, but are now an extinct species. She will the lead the
participants in crafting a Dino album from upcycled material as part of the
session.
Speaking about her experience at the fair, she says, “It is a
very good experience as every cultural event is held in Panjim and South Goa is
treated a no man’s land. There is huge potential in the South and Leonard
Fernandes has put so much of his soul and thinking into this fair for the love
of this reading culture. For my reading session, I had children who were very
attentive and precautious. I told them the story of the jellyfish too who eat
floating plastic mistaking it for its food. I believe that storytelling brings
up a generation of a different thinking. The future of storytelling is now
tales which are based on the local environment.”
Author of two children’s books, ‘Eddi and Diddi’ and ‘Tales from
the Ocean,’ Savia gives credit to the parents of her four lovely
granddaughters, Niharika, Ananya, Nayantara and Ahana for bringing them up with
the love for reading. She is also working on a book of short stories for
children and a more activity based storybook on a dream of child who wants to
visit the Rainforest.
The Hungry Mind activity centre in Margao, started by Andrea
Menezes Crasto and her sister Vanessa over nine years ago, was based on the
same idea to get children as young as four years old to start reading early.
Today, February 11, Andrea and Vanessa will conduct a bear hunt with children
singing and acting out stories from 11 am to 12 pm followed by a session at 12.30
pm as Vanessa and Sandra D’Mello will create a world of mime and drama while
Andrea will organise a workshop for teachers.
“Over the years, we
have noticed that children who are avid readers especially those in the age
group of 4-6 years have a better headstart among their peers,” says Andrea, who
starting with the centre, keeping her children in mind. She will be also
conducted a limerick writing workshop on February 12 at 1.30pm to teach
children to write their own limericks.
Shruti Narayan will
conduct an art workshop on February 12 at 11 am. On February 13, Andrea will
conduct a workshop from 11 am – 12 pm for parents of children aged 2-6 years to
help them build reading skills in their children. Annie Sen Gupta will conduct
a comics quiz from 3:30 pm to 4.30 pm, based on comics, from Tintin and Asterix
through Marvel and DC to Amar Chitra Katha and beyond. From 5 pm to 6pm, Dr
Tanvi Bambolkar will read mostly children’s books in English, Hindi and Konkani
and act out their stories in groups.
Among
the many bookstalls at the Fair, one can buy books from leading publishing
houses like Penguin Random House, HarperCollins India, Scholastic India,
Pratham Books, Amar Chitra Katha and The National Book Trust, Sahitya Akademi,
Konkani Bhasha Mandal, Pune-based Rajhans Prakashan. Children will be
enthusiastic to go through books by Wonder House, a reputed children’s book
imprint.