Multi Storied Mumbai’s first YA by YA Literature Festival

Multi Storied, the first lit fest for Young Adults (YA) by young adults was held at the gorgeous heritage Malabari Hall at Seva Sadan Society, Mumbai. The festival was curated by Navya Banga, 12th grade student of the American School of Bombay (ASB) and supported by Peek A Book, Mumbai’s only literature festival for kids and YA.

The one-day festival featured award-winning authors, Jerry Pinto, Shabnam Minwalla, Vaishali Shroff; film producer Priya Sreedharan and Mumbai journalist Fiona Fernandez. The spotlight was on Indian books for Young Adults. Each session was unique and covered a wide range of topics from a quiz about our city to visual storytelling to an insight into a writer’s journey. A key session was a Teen Lit panel featuring first time YA authors Sana Gandhi and Mann Tandon in conversation with Navya.

“When I first came up with the idea that transformed into this very festival, I knew I wanted to create a space for young people who loved literature. I wanted to create a space where they could meet like-minded people, have interesting conversations, and listen to and engage with speakers with an incredible depth and breadth of knowledge to share. More than anything, I wanted to make young readers more excited about literature, especially regional literature. We have a rich and varied history of Indian literature, one that often goes undervalued within India itself, and highlighting books written by Indian authors was a key aspect in my idea for the festival," said Navya Banga, Founder, Multi Storied YA by YA Lit Fest, Student Grade 12 American School Mumbai

“A peer curated festival is a unique idea with a lot of potential and we were delighted to support Navya’s pioneering effort. The YA space is an exciting one – with some fabulous books just out over a wide range of topics – based on these books she was able to create a vibrant space for young book lovers, said Lubaina Bandukwala, Founder, Peek A Book Literature Festival for Kids and YA.