Litbug 2024: A Jampack of Literature, Nature, Art and Creativity 

One of Pune’s most adored literary festivals for children, Litbug, held its 6th edition on Saturday at Yashada Chavan Academy of Development in Baner.

22 April 2024

By Khushi Maheshwari 

It is a festival that transcends the peripheries of bookish literature and creates a learning atmosphere coalesced with vibrance, comfort and zest for children and adults alike. The Litbug Festival 2024 was truly a rejuvenating experience. The day was lined up with exciting workshops and events like immersive poetry, comic strip making, manga/anime character sketching, to name a few. 

The Litbug festival is the brainchild of Vaishali Kulkarni, a talented and popular storyteller and educator of Pune’s Story Station, which is stationed in Aundh, ITI road and was set up in 2015. Vaishali’s journey began in 2006 and her first ever literature fest took place inside a godown given to her by the Pune Cantonment Board; she described Litbug 2024 as “a magnified version of that”.

Talking about her excitement for the event she said, “We wait for it to arrive every year and when it’s there, we are like it’s going to be 5 and it’s already ending.” In Vaishali’s eyes the festival is more of a community gathering than a mere event. “I would say it’s a community gathering. It’s not an event. There’s enough for a 4-year-old and an 80-year-old… this is what we want to do through literature. Not just offer them books to read and say this is what you should be reading but give them a plethora of things and then they decide what they want to do” 

Most of the parents present there described the gathering as an amazing experience. A start-up founder Anurag Sinha, father to Akash Sinha — an eight year old attendee of the fest — appreciated the efforts of the storytellers at the Story Station to create excitement among children. 

Seven year old Diya and her mother Pallavi Jacob — who is a freelancer in the environment sector — had been eagerly waiting for the fest since they last attended it a year ago. While Diya felt utterly happy being part of the gathering, Pallavi too described it as a “lovely” experience and spoke about how the books that people get here are very niche and specific, and are more easily accessible than in bigger bookstores like Crossword. 

One important issue that she highlighted was how Litbug does not reach a wider population:“It does not get much popularised because there’s a lack of funding; a lot of my friends, and a lot of Diya’s friends keep asking. It cannot be repeated very frequently during the year because, you know, funding access is very limited for this kind of event…if people could come forward and be willing to pay a higher fee or so, this could be repeated in many parts of the city.” 

The owner of Youth Cosmo, a non-profit that works for the cause of the environment and reconnecting children with the environment to instil a sense of respect in them, spoke about his experience of setting up a stall in Litbug for the second time consecutively and said,” It’s really awesome. I have never seen a literature festival happening in Pune with such a variety in audience and in what they do.”

All in all, the gathering was a huge success and was cherished equally by people from all ages. It carved out a haven for adults to reconnect with their inner child and for children, it provided a forum of learning laced with laughter and liveliness.