The Story
OrganizerBookaroo began, in a sense, in 2003, when Swati Roy and M. Venkatesh opened Eureka, India's first exclusive children's bookstore in New Delhi, a place designed so that children could pick books freely, without parents or teachers dictating their choices, and where book-related events happened nearly every weekend. Inspired by the model of children's book festivals abroad, the pair, together with a small group of editors and authors, launched the first Bookaroo Children's Literature Festival in New Delhi in November 2008, India's first literature festival dedicated entirely to children.
From that single Delhi edition, Bookaroo grew into what is often called India's most-travelled festival. Run by the non-profit Bookaroo Trust, it has since visited many cities across India and abroad, including editions in Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and completed dozens of editions over more than fifteen years. Its mission is disarmingly simple and consistent: reading for pleasure. Rather than treating books as homework, Bookaroo sets out to bring back the wonder of imagination and reconnect children with literature in a fun way, making books come alive through direct interaction between young readers and the authors, illustrators and storytellers who create their worlds.
A typical Bookaroo unfolds over a weekend in an outdoor setting, historically at venues such as Sanskriti Anandgram and, in recent years, the heritage gardens of Sunder Nursery in Delhi. Sessions are age-banded, from four-year-olds up to teenagers, and range across storytelling, readings, discussions, poetry, puppetry, drama, quizzes, and art-and-craft workshops, with a festival bookstore where children can buy and have books signed. Editions have featured dozens of speakers from many countries; the festival is free to attend (beyond any venue entry fee), with sessions offered on a first-come, first-seated basis.
Bookaroo has also spun off outreach initiatives, notably Bookaroo in the City, which takes the festival into schools and underserved institutions, and an annual Bookart exhibition of children's artwork. Its impact has been recognised internationally: in 2017 the Bookaroo Trust won the Literary Festival Award at the London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards. Its 18th Delhi edition is scheduled for 3 and 4 October 2026 at Sunder Nursery, followed by editions in Bhopal, Srinagar and Vadodara.
Bookaroo occupies a foundational place in Indian literary culture as the country's first festival built entirely around children and reading for pleasure. In a schooling culture where reading is often framed as academic obligation, its insistence on joy, imagination and free choice represents a genuine intervention in how Indian children encounter books. By travelling to many cities, including smaller ones and, through Bookaroo in the City, into underserved schools, it has worked deliberately against the concentration of literary culture in a few metros. Its model, direct, playful interaction between children and the creators of books, has influenced how children's literary programming is done in India, and its international recognition has helped put Indian children's publishing and festival culture on the global map.
In an era of screens and declining leisure reading, a festival devoted to rekindling children's love of books is more relevant than ever. Bookaroo matters because it addresses literacy and imagination at their root, in childhood, and does so through delight rather than instruction. Its outreach into underserved schools gives it a genuine equity dimension, and its focus on reading for pleasure aligns closely with educational and CSR priorities around childhood development and literacy. For the Atlas, Bookaroo is a model of purpose-driven, widely-accessible cultural programming with a clear social mission and a strong, verifiable track record.
