Coronavirus: Online lit fest, story sessions, author interactions et al!

By Zafri Mudasser Nofil

New Delhi, Mar 27 () From literature festivals, storytelling sessions and author interactions to free e-books and quarantine reading lists, publishers are using the online platform to engage readers in this period of lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Penguin and online parenting platform Momspesso are launching #OnceUponABookWithPenguin from March 30 when there will be one author live every evening to tell kids an interesting story from their books.

"The intent is to make playtime fun for kids even if they are indoors and hence the focus will be on animated storytelling and reading and also to leave kids to do an activity once the story is over," a Penguin statement said.

Some popular children's authors like Ruskin Bond, Paro Anand and Arefa Tehsin with engage with their readers till April 14.

As part of its #readinstead campaign, Juggernaut Books on Friday launched the month-long #Readinstead Online Literature Festival in association with Scroll. On March 21, the publishing house made its entire catalogue free for readers to access during the lockdown period.

The #Readinstead litfest will include some of Juggernaut's biggest authors and consist of conversations, workshops, competitions, masterclasses and more.

"At Juggernaut we are always trying to do something original, and we have been playing with the idea of creating an online literary festival for some time. This was the perfect moment. Our vision is to get more people reading and to find new ways to bring the magic of books and reading to them," said publisher Chiki Sarkar.

"The #Readinstead lit fest will we hope entertain and stimulate people in this difficult time and remind us of the power of books. We are delighted that we could make this happen and thank our partner Scroll for coming on board with so much enthusiasm," CEO Simran Khara added.

Juggernaut is offering books like Nobel Prize winners Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo's "Good Economics for Hard Times", "Mind Without Fear" by ex Mckinsey CEO Rajat Kumar Gupta, "Pyjamas are Forgiving" and "The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad" by Twinkle Khanna and "A Century is not Enough" by Sourav Ganguly for free.

Roli Books authors Moin Mir and William Dalrymple will go live from its Instagram account on Saturday, said its editorial director Priya Kapoor.

The publishing house is also organising an online short story contest to "capture these unprecedented days". It has invited original stories of 2000-3000 words on any of these or related themes: kindness, community, family, isolation, social distancing and relationships. The deadline is April 25.

Niyogi Books has come out with a quarantine list of e-books that includes "Day & Dastan" by Intizar Husain, "Fida-e-Lucknow", "The Cuckoo's Nest", "The Lacquered Curtains of Burma" and a translation of Rabindranath Tagore's "Quartet/Chaturanga". ZMN RBRB