About the festival

We are pleased to announce the 14^th edition of KathaVana, our annual children’s literature festival, to be held on Sunday, 23 Nov 2025, at the Azim Premji University, Bengaluru campus. This year’s theme, ​“A Celebration of Creative Expressions,” brings together storytelling and read aloud sessions, painting, origami, clay modelling, puppetry, theatre, and movie screening that encourage imagination and expression among children. 

This year, 1170 children will be participating, along with 85 teachers/​volunteers from Gubbachhi Learning Centre, our partner organisation. The festival includes 30 parallel sessions across 9 categories, facilitated by 34 resource persons. Each group of children will participate in three diverse and engaging sessions, exploring their creative abilities, with guidance from experienced artists and resource persons.

Additionally, 30 members from the field institutes across Karnataka will participate in a workshop to consolidate and present their work with children through last year and making next year’s plans, based on their observations from this event. 

Those staying on or near the campus are requested to join for witnessing the lively sessions. 

A smaller version of the festival will also be held on 30 November at Indian Heritage Academy (IHA), Koramangala, for about 250 children, in collaboration with MAARGA.