Bangalore, September 22, 2025: Bringing alive books, stories and conversations around the theme ‘Stories Make Us Human’, the Neev Literature Festival for children’s literature is back. Now in its ninth edition, children and families will get to soak up the experience of this festival which is completely free, open to all, and hosted at the Neev Academy campus in Yemalur, on Sept 20-21, 2025.
NLF 2024 saw more than 4000 attendees from all over Bangalore and across the country, in an audience consisting of children, parents, and educators of diverse socio-economic strata from IB schools to government-run and NGO-supported schools. Here’s a view into NLF 2024 —Highlights 1, 2, 3.
NLF2025 will host 80 Delegates, 134 sessions for children, parents and educators, and 2000+ curated titles at the children’s book marketplace for over 5000 people over two days. Every delegate and attendee brings us one step closer to achieving our mission to make reading cool. In addition there will be book launches, book interactions, book signings, masterclasses, a book award, and a books-based quiz.
Among our global delegates, we’re excited to host Uma Krishnaswami, who’s returning to the world of her earlier work, Book Uncle and Me, with 2 new books, as well as Emily Drabble, who was the former editor of The Guardian’s children’s books site and is now with BookTrust, UK.
Anthony McGowan, the Carnegie Medal winner who’s published with Barrington Stoke, Sam Leith, author of The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading, will be joining us along with the immensely gifted graphic novelist Vera Brosgol, author-illustrator LeUyen Pham, Newbery Honor-winners Veera Hiranandani and Rajani LaRocca. Science writer and podcast host Sam Kean, will be there, as will Joanna Cárdenas, associate publisher, Kokila Books, and New York Times bestselling author Pablo Cartaya. Poile Sengupta, Paro Anand, Devika Rangachari, Anushka Ravishankar, Shabnam Minwalla, Ashok Rajagopalan, and a host of others, will be among the wonderful Indian book creators who will be present.
From pondering about the intersection of Science with our own lives through a session with Sam Kean and Jahnavi Phalkey from The Science Gallery, Bengaluru, to conversing about what it takes to write for boys and how writers think through their process for this as discussed by Anthony McGowan and Pablo Cartaya, the sessions at NLF cover a wide range of topics, including writing in second person with Veera Hiranandani, to the place of AI in a field as rooted as archaeology, by creators of children’s books such as Devika Cariapa.
This year, the festival has more masterclasses for adults as well as a new segment for the 15-18 years age group, alongside these hands-on workshops for 9-12 years, and 13 18 years. Children will get to immerse themselves in theatrical performances and storytelling with the members of Goshtarang, a theatre group in Maharashtra. Come away, refreshed, with a head full of ideas, at NLF 2025.
Bangalore, September 22, 2025: Bringing alive books, stories and conversations around the theme ‘Stories Make Us Human’, the Neev Literature Festival for children’s literature is back. Now in its ninth edition, children and families will get to soak up the experience of this festival which is completely free, open to all, and hosted at the Neev Academy campus in Yemalur, on Sept 20-21, 2025.
NLF 2024 saw more than 4000 attendees from all over Bangalore and across the country, in an audience consisting of children, parents, and educators of diverse socio-economic strata from IB schools to government-run and NGO-supported schools. Here’s a view into NLF 2024 —Highlights 1, 2, 3.
NLF2025 will host 80 Delegates, 134 sessions for children, parents and educators, and 2000+ curated titles at the children’s book marketplace for over 5000 people over two days. Every delegate and attendee brings us one step closer to achieving our mission to make reading cool. In addition there will be book launches, book interactions, book signings, masterclasses, a book award, and a books-based quiz.
Among our global delegates, we’re excited to host Uma Krishnaswami, who’s returning to the world of her earlier work, Book Uncle and Me, with 2 new books, as well as Emily Drabble, who was the former editor of The Guardian’s children’s books site and is now with BookTrust, UK.
Anthony McGowan, the Carnegie Medal winner who’s published with Barrington Stoke, Sam Leith, author of The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading, will be joining us along with the immensely gifted graphic novelist Vera Brosgol, author-illustrator LeUyen Pham, Newbery Honor-winners Veera Hiranandani and Rajani LaRocca. Science writer and podcast host Sam Kean, will be there, as will Joanna Cárdenas, associate publisher, Kokila Books, and New York Times bestselling author Pablo Cartaya. Poile Sengupta, Paro Anand, Devika Rangachari, Anushka Ravishankar, Shabnam Minwalla, Ashok Rajagopalan, and a host of others, will be among the wonderful Indian book creators who will be present.
From pondering about the intersection of Science with our own lives through a session with Sam Kean and Jahnavi Phalkey from The Science Gallery, Bengaluru, to conversing about what it takes to write for boys and how writers think through their process for this as discussed by Anthony McGowan and Pablo Cartaya, the sessions at NLF cover a wide range of topics, including writing in second person with Veera Hiranandani, to the place of AI in a field as rooted as archaeology, by creators of children’s books such as Devika Cariapa.
This year, the festival has more masterclasses for adults as well as a new segment for the 15-18 years age group, alongside these hands-on workshops for 9-12 years, and 13 18 years. Children will get to immerse themselves in theatrical performances and storytelling with the members of Goshtarang, a theatre group in Maharashtra. Come away, refreshed, with a head full of ideas, at NLF 2025.