For three days this October, children in Mumbai will get a chance to discover that books can be much more than something to read quietly. The Little Festival, Mumbai’s annual literary festival for children, will return to the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) from 22 to 24 October 2026, alongside Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest.
Organised in collaboration with the H T Parekh Foundation, the festival is designed for children aged 7 to 13. It brings together books, storytelling, music, theatre, art, nature and conversations to encourage children to explore ideas through experiences rather than only through reading.
For younger children aged 7 and 8, the programme includes activity-based sessions that encourage imagination and creativity. They can imagine what animals in the wild might say, write letters to humans from an animal’s perspective, and explore storytelling through maps, art, dance and Kathak.
Children aged 9 and 10 will encounter bilingual stories presented through music, films and performative storytelling. Older children, up to the age of 13, will take part in discussions on subjects such as map-reading, graphic novels, marine life, human-animal conflict, Mumbai’s heritage, inclusivity and empathy.
What makes the festival different is that children are not treated merely as an audience. They are encouraged to create, question, perform and participate.
The festival will also feature nature walks and workshops covering poetry, theatre writing, illustration and reading as a way of developing resilience. Its broader themes include nature and the environment, art, history, diversity, spoken-word storytelling and the continuing importance of physical books.
A range of children’s writers and practitioners will lead the sessions, including Devashish Makhija, Fiona Fernandes, Katie Bagli, Lavanya Kartik, Nandita da Cunha, Neha Singh, Raviraj Shetty, Sonal Gupta Vaswani and Sonia Mehta. Comedian Cyrus Broacha and sportswriter Boria Majumdar will also conduct sessions designed especially for children.
Another unusual participant will be professional clown Martin “Flubber” D’Souza, whose book explores the dignity and hard work associated with his profession.
The festival will also stage the international family musical Grandpa Poseidon, which explores ideas of change, feeling lost and finding one’s way again.
For children who enjoy discovering books for themselves, the popular Doorbeen Tent will return with interactive activities and a book swap. The Binod Kanoria Awards for Children’s Literature winners will also be announced during the festival.
Associate Festival Director Reena Agrawal, who curates The Little Festival, said the event aims to introduce children to direct interaction, outdoor experiences, theatre and creative activities at a time when screens occupy a large part of their daily lives.
The festival’s central idea is simple: a book does not have to remain between two covers. It can become a conversation, a performance, a drawing, a map, a walk or even a new way of looking at the world.
For three days, The Little Festival will attempt to make that idea real for young readers in Mumbai.
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