Children’s Festival concludes

LAHORE: Attracting thousands of children during the two days, “Children’s Literature Festival”—CLF-2018 concluded at the Lahore Fort here on Sunday.

The festival featuring dozens of sessions, including storytelling, interactive theatre workshop, panel discussions and talks on children’s literature & libraries, child marriage and other topics and theatrical performances provided children a unique opportunity to explore and learn.

Jointly organised by the CLF and the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), the event, held to promote literature, heritage and young talent, attracted children from all parts of the provincial metropolis and nearby cities.

Besides book binding workshop, a story singing session with hand puppet led by Atif Badar was one of the attractions for the children while competitions in art, singing and writing were also held.

The British Council’s storytelling, illustration workshops and quizzes also remained one of the favourite things to do list of children at the festival. The panel discussion on children's literature and libraries was participated by Ameena Saiyid, Basarat Kazim, Sohail Khan, Zubeida Mustafa, and Baela Raza Jameel. Large size images of 13 historical gates of the Walled City of Lahore were also put on display at the festival which attracted the visitors. The visiting children also particularly enjoyed playing tech-enabled interactive games at Microsoft Adda while puppet show by Suneha Puppet Workshop also attracted good number of kids.

Talking to The News, Baela Raza Jameel of Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agahi (ITA) said the Children’s Literature Festival was an effort to push children to learn differently. She said schoolchildren from public and private schools attended the festival. She particularly appreciated students from non-formal education institutions and special education institutions for being part of the festival.

Noted actor and comedian Adil Hashmi also had a conversation with children on civic sense, social responsibilities and other topics and engaged the children in interesting activities, including poem recitation. Separately, children performed Heer Ranjha.