MADURAI: The Madurai Children's Literary Festival (Oru Oorla) commenced on Saturday at the Vallaba Vidyalaya CBSE School in Madurai. The two-day event, organised by Madurai-based bookstore Turning Point, includes storytelling sessions, skill-based workshops, panel discussions, and theatre workshops for children. The event was inaugurated by Collector Dr Aneesh Sekhar. He launched the book "tales for children by children", which is a compilation of 15 stories, on the occasion.
"Students will be inspired to write when they hear stories from the authors themselves, said Surya Preethi (42), Managing Director of Turning Point and founder-organiser of the literary festival.
Actor and author Janaki Sabesh narrated three stories for the children and their parents. "Stories have the power to mesmerize the audience and it is a great achievement if they do not reach out for their phones continuously for 45 minutes. It was quite a surprise that parents too listened to our stories in pin-drop silence," she said.