New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS): A two-day language festival with a specific focus on children and young adults' literature kicked off on Saturday at the Indian Habitat Centre (IHC) here.

The sixth edition of the annual IHC-ILF Samanvay festival, featuring noted litterateurs, has a line-up of storytelling sessions, workshops, film screenings, and panel discussions. The festival will host talks and workshops by publisher and children's author Geeta Dharmarajan, young adults' author Paro Anand, storyteller Rituparna Ghosh, journalist and blogger Lalita Iyer, and poet-novelist Sampurna Chattarji, among others.

It will also feature a workshop titled "A History Hungama" by children's author Subhadra Sengupta, who has penned over 40 books for young readers. Also lined-up are film screenings for children aged five and above, including the screening of the 2017 film "The Secret Superstar" starring Aamir Khan.

The festival focuses on children's and young adults' writing and publishing in India; the changing nature of reading culture; infrastructure and access. Other themes to be explored are relevant platforms such as libraries, online reading platforms and apps and other initiatives by the state, organisations and individuals to foster reading, the curatorial note read. It will also bring together a range of book stalls by major publishers with a focus on recent children's and young adults' titles, it added. The entry to the festival's sessions is free. Workshops have on-the-spot registration. The festival schedule is available at www.ilfsamanvay.org.