Virtual Session on Joy of Reading for the Reading-deprived: The Journey of a Youth Library Movement in Arunachal

About the Session

  • When: Saturday, 4th March 2023
  • Time: 11.00 AM IST
  • Platform: Zoom

Session By: Shri Sathyanarayanan Mundayoor, Scholar-in-Residence, IIT Gandhinagar

Deeply concerned by the steep fall in the quality of educational standards in Arunachal, a group of committed book lovers started working to spread the joy of reading in the eastern Dibang and Lohit valleys of Arunachal. Thus was born the Lohit Youth Library Network in 2007. The Library Network, with a vibrant team of youth reader-activists, has won hearty
appreciation from book lovers across the world. This is the inspirational story of how libraries can create readership in
community.

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About the Speaker

Fondly known as Uncle Moosa, he is an educationist and social activist working in North East India. Born in Kerala,
Sathyanarayanan has been working in Arunachal Pradesh for the last 43 years. Keen to build up reading habits among
children, he has been working on reading challenges in Arunachal since 1979. He would carry books in cartons using state
transport buses, sumos, or trucks to reach the remote areas where tribal families live. The Lohit Youth Library Network- a
voluntary Movement got started in 2007 in the town of Tezu with the active support of a group of book lovers and proactive
officials, with Sathyanarayanan as its Founder-Coordinator. So far, the Library Network has 13 unit libraries in places like
Wakro, Namsai, Roing, Lathaw and the hilly Anjaw. In recognition of his extraordinary efforts in promoting a joyful education
in Arunachal Pradesh, he was awarded the Padma Shri in 2020.

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