NLF began in 2017 to make reading cool, with a focus on:
- Celebrating books that spark the joy of reading
- Curating books and building libraries for children
- Creating a platform for dialogue with the community
- Engaging with students, parents, teachers, and librarians on different thought-provoking topics through immersive workshops and discussions
It translates to 2 days of excitement around books and reading for children, families, librarians, and educators. NLF2024 hosted 85 Delegates, 3 performing groups, 100+ sessions for children, parents and educators, and 2000+ curated titles at the children's books marketplace for over 4000 people over two days. In addition there were book launches, book readings and interactions, book signings, and book awards. There were 4264 people who attended the event over two days. The festival also hosted the grand finale quiz of the NLF Reading Challenge, an online reading event which saw participation from 645 teams of 3 students each, 1759 students, working out to a total of 3694 students, from across India, as well as countries abroad such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Australia, Uganda, China, Indonesia, Kuwait, Switzerland, Philippines, the US and the UK.
The festival has grown steadily each year. In 2017, there were 1500 attendees, which grew to 2800 in 2018, 3200 in 2022, 4253 in 2023, and 4264 in 2024. Similarly the Reading Challenge has also grown since it began in 2021. The number of participating schools went from 37 in 2021, to 64 in 2022, 163 in 2023, and 408 in 2024.
Please find out more about the festival at www.neevliteraturefestival.org for details on registration as well as the schedule during the time of the festival.
