Let Us Work Together for Bringing the Joy of Reading to Our Children Anwesha, a not-for-profit organization based in Guwahati, Assam has been promoting reading and quality books among the young people for nearly a decade now. Annually Anwesha organizes about 150 book fairs in Assam and its neighborhood. It also publishes valuable books and journals. Anwesha organizes workshops and seminars on relevant socio-cultural issues, where it advocates a humane approach, dispassionate debates and dialogues for resolving contentious issues of the North-East as well as of the nation.
Anwesha has been organizing Spring Festival of Books for Children in Guwahati for last few years in collaboration with National Book Trust, India, an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Apart from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and Assam Science Technology and Environment Council, Assam many other leading PSUs also participate in the festival. The objective of the spring festival is to expose our children to the exciting world of books and inculcate and nurture the habit of reading among them in a cheerful atmosphere. We also want to inspire creativity among the young people by organizing book related and other cultural events in the festival. Spring Festival has already acquired the status of an important annual event for the children, in the cultural scene of Assam. The 5th Spring Festival of Books for Children held from 28 April to 6 May2007 was inaugurated by Prof. Manoj Das, internationally renowned author and fellow of Sahitya Akademy was a great success. The theme of the 5th spring festival was peace. The 6th Spring Festival of Books for Children will be held from 10 to 18 May, 2008 at A E I Field, Chandmari, Guwahati. As earlier, along with a colorful Children's Book Fair lot of book related and cultural activities would be organized during the nine days of the festival. These will include Book March, Rang Mela, Visit to Institutional Library, Book Talk, Understanding Guwahati, Meet the Author, Quiz on Planet Earth, Workshop on Climate Change and Planet Earth, Story Telling, For a Better and Safer Guwahati, Meet the Scientists and Career Planning. The theme of the 6th Spring Festival of Books for Children will be the International year of Planet Earth. This was decided in view of the United Nations declaration of the International Year of Planet Earth (2007-2009). The central message of the International Year of Planet Earth is sustainable development. The knowledge accumulated by 400000 Earth Scientists is to be used for building safer, healthier and wealthier societies around the globe by protecting and preserving the earth. The success of this global campaign depends on identifying the local issues, needing immediate attention and making people aware of them. The Spring Festival of Books for Children, being a festival of young people is the best occasion to spread the knowledge of earth science among children and general public for the well being and preservation of mother earth. Anwesha seeks moral and material support for the 6th Spring Festival of Books for Children. Any one willing to support Anwesha may contact Paresh Malakar,President(09864110455) and Dudulmoni Sarmah, Secretary(09435305046) or write to Anwesha, MC Road, Barowari-Guwahati 781003, Assam, India,Tele-fax:0361-2664662
