By IANS
New Delhi : Iran, Uganda, Egypt, Pakistan…storytellers from across the world, some even dressed in colourful costumes to enthral their young audiences, got together for the first day of the International Conference on Storytelling here Monday.
As many as 40 narrators have assembled with their tales for the three-day event aimed at inculcating the reading habit among children.
“Narrating stories can powerfully impact a child’s mind. Now that working mothers don’t have time to narrate stories, books have become the new storytellers,” Bipin Chandra, well-known historian and chairman of the National Book Trust, said at the inauguration.
Organised by the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC) at the India Habitat Centre, the conference will see storytellers enthralling schoolchildren with magical narratives.
Stalls of colourful books for children have been exhibited as well.
The event kick-started with storytellers from Iran, the US, India, Britain, Uganda, Japan, Turkey, Nepal, Mongolia and Pakistan holding fort on the first day. They wowed children from schools across Delhi who came for the festival.
The highlight of the day was a performance by renowned Kathak dancer Shovana Narayan. Panchatantra stories were depicted through a ballet. A shadow play was also put up by Pakistani artistes.
Geeta Ramanujam, director, Kathalaya, an organisation promoting storytelling, told a gripping tale. She spoke of how a little bird through its constant chirping made a listener out of a mountain that was until then used to silence. She compared the bird’s chirping with the art of storytelling.
“Stories speak of lessons, subtle values and culture which the child can easily retain, recall and recapitulate. These work better than pages of moral lessons and culture,” she opined.