Audience get storyfied at Jumpstart

JUMPSTART 2015 was successfully held on August 18 at IIC Delhi and from August 21- 22 at Goethe-Institut in Bengaluru. Writers, illustrators, storytellers and scriptwriters weaved together amazing stories and illustrations, making it a breeding ground for new ideas. Festival advisors, Manasi Subramaniam and Ameen, brought in respective energies in putting together a contentrich programme at Jumpstart 2015 (organised by German Book Office, New Delhi) which was an effective mix of panel discussions, interactions and Masterclasses for writers, illustrators, storytellers and scriptwriters. While the one day event in Delhi started off with a panel named Storydust, the rest of the day was all about the hands-on Masterclasses led by field experts and international speakers.

While Motti Aviram, from Tel Aviv, guided aspiring and professional screenwriters sharing his unique formula for writing a good script. Australian author, Leonie Norrington took the participating writers through the tools and techniques of creating everlasting characters. Master illustrator from Australia, Nicki Greenberg charmed the artists and illustrators in her class by reading parts from her illustrated stories and then getting them down to doodling. Expert storyteller, Ameen Haque mesmerised the audience in his masterclass by getting down to the business of telling captivating stories.

Bengaluru sawan enthusiastic response from the city’s creative folks and the two days went off in a buzz of activity and interactions. Moving through Windows, Mirrors and Kaleidoscopes, the day moved onto the Slamathon where select participants got to individually interact with the expert speakers while pitching their stories and receiving ideas for further improvement. The second day involved the above masterclasses led by Motti Avaram, Leonie Norrington and Nicki Green berg.

There was also a session conducted by Goodbooks for educators and librarians. For Publishers, the event provided the platform for necessary debates and discussions on experiments in education such as gamification and story based learning. In all, Get Storyfied at JUMPSTART 2015 was a success for team GBO and was of benefit to the creators, disseminators, consumers of children’s content in India.