Bookaroo Festival

Details of speakers

Alicia Dongjoo Bang,

A storyteller, educator, and festival director from South Korea, Alicia shares Korean folktales worldwide and in local libraries and bookstores. As president of the Korea International Storytellers’ Association she nurtures storytelling globally.

Seoul, South Korea Arefa Tehsin, Udaipur, India

Arefa grew up treading jungles with her naturalist father. She was often found trying to catch a snake or spin a yarn. Ex-Hon. Wildlife Warden, Udaipur, she’s the author of 19 books and a columnist.

Ashok Rajagopalan, Chennai, India

Ashok loves to tell stories and draw pictures that make people, especially little people, laugh. He loves reading, talking, laughing and walking in the rain and lives in a green, quiet part of Chennai with his noisy family.

Canato Jimo, Bengaluru, India

Art director Canato, who comes from Nagaland, loves to watch picture books come alive. He moonlights as a musician, loves to guzzle tea and pop bubble wraps, and is a recovering stationery addict.

Champa Saha, Bengaluru, India

Champa’s role as teacher, special educator and counsellor gives her the opportunity to be in the world that she loves the most – that of stories. She loves stories, children and dogs, not necessarily in that order!

Chantal-Fleur Sandjon, Berlin, Germany

Chantal-Fleur is an Afro-German author. She writes her ÀUVW GUDIWV ORQJ KDQG DQG GDQFHV D ORW DW KHU GHVN +HU <$ novel ‘The Sun, So Bright and Black’ was, among other things, DZDUGHG WKH *HUPDQ

Deepa Balsavar, Mumbai, India

Deepa loves animals, children, books and printmaking. She is usually found with ink on her hands, or with her nose in a book, her animals curled up beside her. Deepa also writes and illustrates children’s books.

Irushi Tennekoon, Rajagiriya, Colombo

Irushi is a picture book artist and animator based in Colombo. Through her work she explores extraordinary stories about everyday people and places.

Professor J. B. Disanayaka, Colombo

Despite a long list of impressive titles (Deshamanya, 6DKLW\D 5DWQD 'HVKDQHWUX 3URIHVVRU 'LVDQD\DND UHWDLQV a charming personality and a great sense of humour. His UHWHOOLQJ RI /DQNDQ IRONWDOHV LV D JLIW WR WKH FRXQWU\ V FKLOGUHQ

Janaki Galappatti, Colombo

Janaki has enjoyed creating stories as a child, a parent, a scientist, a teacher and a writer. Having worked at early Bookaroos in Delhi, she looks forward to joining Bookaroo in her hometown.

Priya Kuriyan,

$Q LOOXVWUDWRU SLFWXUH ERRN DQG FRPLFV PDNHU 3UL\D OLYHV and works in the city of Bangalore and in her spare time likes to make caricatures of the city’s residents.

Bengaluru, India Lavanya Karthik, Mumbai, India

:ULWHU LOOXVWUDWRU GD\GUHDPHU DQG QDS WDNHU /DYDQ\D·V books have won a few awards, been translated into many languages and travelled the world. She can be found wandering through the by-lanes of Mumbai, looking for her next story.

Lanka Perera and Udeshika Perera, Colombo

/DQND KDV EHHQ DQ DGYLVRU WR SULPDU\ VFKRROV LQ 6UL /DQND IRU RYHU \HDUV /DWHU VKH VHW XS D IRXQGDWLRQ WR SURPRWH creative writing by schoolchildren (and adults) and conducts workshops across the country.

Udeshika has worked as an advisor to pre-schools for RYHU \HDUV 7RJHWKHU ZLWK /DQND VKH KDV SDUWLFLSDWHG LQ conducting creative writing workshops for schoolchildren.

Lavanya Prasad, Bengaluru, India

Electrical-engineer-turned-professional-storyteller, /DYDQ\D EHOLHYHV WKDW VKH PDNHV EHWWHU DQG ODVWLQJ connections through stories rather than electrical wires. Blending music, movement, folklore and mythology, she continues to enthral people across all ages through her RUJDQL]DWLRQ 7DOH VFRSH

Nadishka Aloysius, Colombo

Nadishka is a teacher, stage actor, and award-winning DXWKRU ZKR LV D ÀUP EHOLHYHU WKDW UHSUHVHQWDWLRQPDWWHUV She writes for children and adults, conducts creative writing ZRUNVKRSV DQG YLVLWV VFKRROV WR FHOHEUDWH 6UL /DQNDQ FXOWXUH and wildlife.

Nina Sabnani, Chennai, India

1LQD LV DQ DUWLVW DQG VWRU\WHOOHU ZKR XVHV ÀOP LOOXVWUDWLRQ and writing to tell her stories. She is the recipient of the %/%$ DZDUG IRU ,OOXVWUDWLRQ IURP 7DWD 7UXVWV

Rukshani Weerasooriya Wijemanne, Colombo

With a background in law, Rukshani has always enjoyed words. She loves learning them, saying them, reading them, writing them, playing with them, making them rhyme and sometimes even making them up!

Savio Mascarenhas, Mumbai, India

Growing up with a galaxy of characters from Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha, Savio chose to live in this Neverland. The group art director, Amar Chitra Katha, is a TEDx speaker on the use of visuals in learning.

Shehan Karunatilaka, Colombo

The winner of multiple global awards, Shehan writes about forgotten cricketers, war photographers, chatty ghosts, self-driving cars and time travellers. His stories are absurd and mostly true.

Shenuka Corea, Colombo

Shenuka is an illustrator, comic artist, animator and cat enthusiast. She loves telling stories about nature, monsters and the magic. An MFA student at SVA’s Visual Narrative 3URJUDP VKH LV ZRUNLQJ RQ D JUDSKLF QRYHO