The recently concluded ‘OMR Storytelling Festival 2025’, hosted by The Bookshelf in Thoraipakkam, was a joyful celebration of stories, music, theatre, and creativity. Held on May 17 and 18, the two-day event attracted over 30 children and their families from across the OMR corridor, offering an engaging platform to experience the magic of storytelling in various forms.
The festival opened with Sing, Move and Create, an interactive session by Kavita Thyagarajan, that encouraged children to participate through songs, movement, and crafts. This was followed by Treasury of Indian Folktales, where Debjani Bhaduri captivated young audiences with timeless tales of wit and wisdom from Indian folklore. Day 2 featured Around the World in 60 Minutes, a lively, kid-powered theatre session conducted by Pretigaya Haran, taking children on a journey across global cultures. The grand finale, Musical Storytelling by Alvin and Kishore, blended melody and narrative, leaving the audience enthralled with stories brought to life through music.
The festival was organised by The Bookshelf, a unique children’s library founded by Sudha Gopalakrishnan and H. Venkataraman in 2019. Initially launched as a home-based lending library, The Bookshelf faced a pause during the pandemic but was officially relaunched in January 2025. Today, it operates as a home-delivery library serving families along the OMR stretch, from Perungudi to Kelambakkam. The library offers a carefully curated collection of over 2,000 titles in English, Tamil, Hindi, and bilingual formats, covering a wide range of categories including picture books, educational books, fiction, epics and puranas, bilingual picture books, illustrated classics, and mystery.
Focused on nurturing reading habits among young minds, The Bookshelf continues to grow as a literary hub for children in the region.
Bookshelf is also launching a concept of mini-library, where they would visit the communities across OMR and offer reading, activities and borrowing of books in real time, bringing the experience of a library to your communities.
For more information or to browse the collection, visit www.bookshelf-library.com. For details, contact 80560 73602.
