Karan Puri 1 May, 2024
Independent bookstores have a special place in all our hearts. They are the silent custodians of culture and we all owe them many discoveries and memories. The Indie bookstore festival is a celebration of independent bookstores.
Through the Indie bookstore
movement, they intend to ensure that bookstores survive and thrive as
cornerstones for creative dialogues and collective storytelling.
This World Book Day on 23rd April 2024, the Sunflower seeds, a full-service
agency for authors celebrated books and bookstores at The Indie Bookstore
Festival annual event at Radisson delhi. The event was attended by leading
publishers, authors, influencers, entrepreneurs and actors who came together at
The Indie Bookstore Festival on the occasion of World Book Day.
Curated
by Preeti Chaturvedi, CEO of The Sunflower Seeds, the event aims to promote
dialogues around the habit of book reading and bookstores, which seem to be
diminishing by the day. The festival will feature fireside chats, panel
discussions and keynote speeches throughout the day.
Actor
and author Samir Soni said that we all should support indie bookstores as they
are run by those driven by their love for the written word, and in a
world increasingly being taken over by social media, books provide us with a
much-needed dose of sanity.
“Indie bookstores have a personal touch, as any one of us who would have visited one before would know. Over time you end up forming a bond with the book keepers. In an age where our attention spans are reducing fast, its individuals like us who should promote the hobby of good old bedtime stories and reading, rather than mindlessly scrolling through videos on the internet,” he said.
Talking
about the idea of the festival, Chaturvedi said being in the industry, one kept
hearing about bookstores reducing gradually.
“Bookstores hold a special place in our cultural heritage, and through this festival, we aim to celebrate their significance as cornerstones of our art and culture. Your presence would undoubtedly contribute to fostering creative dialogues and collective storytelling.,” she said.
First session was on the topic ‘Because bookstores matter” Festival director Preeti Chaturvedi was in conversation with Mirza Baig, Siddhant Arora, Touseef baig, Randhir Arora and Abhay Panwar.
Another interesting session ‘It’s all in the mind’ had the bestselling author Shiv Khera and Actor/Director Samir Soni talk about why books are still loved and people who read more books do well in life and make more money.
In another session, we had the CEO of Incedo Inc and best selling author Nitin seth and professor turned author Dhruv Nath talking about ‘AI, Data and the world of opportunity’ in conversation with Penguin executive editor Radhika Marwah.
Dr.
Shiv Sarin and Coach Urmi Kothari hosted an interactive and experiential
session at The Indie Bookstore Festival on #WorldBookDay.
Urmi Kothari did some breathing exercises with the audience and remarked,
"When we sit and just breathe for two minutes, we're able to take better
decisions."
Dr. Shiv Sarin interacted with the audience to address their health concerns
and said, "Spending an hour in the gym now is far better than spending an
hour in hospital at the age of 60"
Bestselling author Mr. Harinder sikka and Tarun Mehrishi led the conversation on Books to screen adaptability in the age of OTT.
Ms. Sohini Rohra, a psychologist and Mrs. India winner and Samir soni spoke about her new book coming up under Sunflower seeds publishing house banner, book titled ‘Cancelled to crowned’.
The event was a grand success and appreciated by all who attended. The next edition is planned for dubai by end of this year.
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