“Experiences with book reading can be phenomenal. The words woven by the author take you on a journey from the unfathomable depths of the ocean to the unmeasurable reaches of the outer space”
Vijay Viswanathan
Theatre Practitioner & Educationalist
About
Read On is a vibrant festival curated by the Alchemy Arts & Education Foundation to celebrate the works of authors, poets, and playwrights. Designed to inspire and engage, the festival aims to spark a love for literature in students by immersing them in fun, hands-on, and experiential learning experiences.
The Read On festival will be an annual celebration at Alchemy Kids & Youth Theatre, held every August. Open to all, including non-Alchemy students, the festival invites young minds to explore, appreciate, and perform diverse literary texts and styles, fostering a deeper connection with the world of literature.
Each year, the Read-On festival will spotlight a curated selection of poets, authors, and playwrights. For 2026, the featured literary figures have been listed along with the corresponding performance events.
The festival will also include a range of special events such as book and play readings, Face2Face sessions with authors, poets and playwrights, appreciation workshops, panel discussions, the Read On Quiz and several other engaging activities.
Who can participate:
Batch of Alchemy 2026 - 27:
- Students / Parents from the current batch of Alchemy Kids Theatre, Youth Theatre & AAPACOE will be eligible to participate by enrolling themselves into the Junior / Senior / Youth/ Parent category. Students of Grade 1 Junior & Senior are not eligible to participate in this event.
Non – Alchemy Participants:
- This is open to all categories. Children / Youth can apply to perform in this category
- This is a free to participate category and no registration fee will be charged
- The participants of this category will have to submit their performance video for the prelims. The videos submitted for the prelims will be screened by the Read On committee.
- List of shortlisted performers for the Read On Festival will be published on the website
- Short listed candidates will perform during the Read On festival as per schedule curated by the organising committee.
- A free workshop from Alchemy will be conducted for the shortlisted candidates
- Candidates performing for the festival will have the option of choosing to perform either virtually or onsite at the festival venue. Candidates are requested to choose this option when they submit their prelims video
Participate as an Audience::
You can participate as an audience for selected events free of cost. For crowd management both onsite and virtual, audiences are requested to block their seats in advance. Direct walk in will be allowed only on the basis of availability of seats for the event
EVENTS
Juniors (Age: 4 to 7 years)
A participant will be allowed to perform from any one of the following: Poetry / Storytelling / Act It Out
Chosen Poets in English
-
Mary Ann Hoberman
- February
- Anthropoids
- Snow
- Ice Skating
- Squirrel
- Ocelot
- Tiger
- Giraffes
- The Tree that Time Built
- I Like Old Clothes
- Cross Purposes
- Brother
- A House is House for Me
- Vacation
- Fish
- Night
- Bandicoot
- All My Shoes Come in Twos
- Nancy Hanks
- Whale
- All poems from the collection How Elegant the Elephant
-
A. A. Milne
- Us Two
- Now We Are Six
- Halfway Down
- Missing
- Happiness
- Daffodowndilly
- If I Were King
- Solitude
- Wind on the Hill
- Vespers
- The Charcoal Burner
- Lines and Squares
- Come Out with Me
- The Four Friends
- Furry Bear
- In the Fashion
- At the Zoo
- All poems from the collection The Complete Poems of Winnie the Pooh
-
Jack Prelutsky
- Sometimes
- On Top of Spaghetti
- I Should Have Stayed in Bed Today
- We're Fearless Flying Hot Dogs
- Bobbing of Apples
- Pumberly Pott's Unpredictable Niece
- The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven
- I Ate Too Much
- Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face
- Homework! Oh Homework!
- My Family's Last Picnic
- My Neighbour's Dog Is Purple
- I Love You More Than Applesauce
- I'm Thankful
- Deep in Our Refrigerator
- All poems from the collection A Pizza the Size of the Sun
-
Gelett Burgess
- The Purple Cow
- Table Manners
- The Goops
- Abstrosophy
- Courtesy
- Dear Mr. Mayor
- Nonsense Verses
- Cleanliness
- I'd Rather Have Habits Than Clothes
- My Feet
- The Lazy Roof
-
Marilyn Singer
- How Delicious
- Mirror Mirror
- In the Hood
- Sky Words
- April Is a Dog's Dream
- All poems from the collection A Stick Is an Excellent Thing
Storytelling
-
Julia Donaldson
- Stories by Julia Donaldson
-
Carl Barks
- Donald Duck Comic Book Series
-
Mo Williams
- Elephant & Piggie Book Series
-
Amar Chitra Katha Series
-
Jataka Tales
-
Enid Blyton
- Best Stories for Six Year Olds
The participants have to choose a character from stories and perform like the character by delivering monologue / dialogues spoken by the character in the story. They can also combine a few portions of the character’s talk in the story to present the same like a monologue. The collection of stories from which they have to choose are:>
Storytelling
- Julia Donaldson
- Stories by Julia Donaldson
- Carl Barks
- Donald Duck Comic Book Series
- Mo Williams
- Elephant & Piggie Book Series
- Amar Chitra Katha
- Jataka Tales
Seniors (Age: 8 to 14 years)
A participant will be allowed to perform from any one of the following: Poetry / Storytelling or Prose / Monologues
Poetry Rendition
- Naomi Shihab Nye - Kindness, Before I was a Gazan, How do i know when a poem is finished, The Rider, Famous, Sometimes I pretend, Hidden, To one now grown, Torn Map, You have to be Careful, Shoulders, The Art of Disappearing, Living with Mistakes, Moon Over Gaza, Making a fist, Loving Working, Red Brocade
- Francisco Alarcon -Family Day, Jaguar, L.A.Prayer, ‘Mexican’ Is not a Noun, Ode to my Shoes, Prayer/Oracion, Words are Birds
- John Donne - For whom the Bell Tolls, Go and catch a falling star, No Man is an Island, Death be not Proud, The Triple Fool, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, A Valediction: Of Weeping, The Expiration, Present in Absence, Love’s Infiniteness, Sweetest love, i do not go,
- W.H Auden - The More Loving One, Preface, Happy Ending, If I could tell you, A Walk After Dark, August 1968, Epitaph of a Tyrant, As I walked out one evening, In Memory of W.B.Yeats,Let History be my Judge,
- Alexander Pope - The Riddle of the World, Weeping, Solitude, The Dying Christian to hugs Soul,Verses Left, Summer, Sound and Sense, An Essay on Man, An Essay on Criticism
- Kamala Das - My Grandmother’s House, Forest Fire, Words, The Rain, Herons, Mirror, Someone Else’s Song
- "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti, "The Second Coming" or "The Stolen Child" by W.B. Yeats
- Excerpts from Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome
- Excerpts from Secret Seven by Enid Blyton
- Excerpts from Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis
- Excerpts from the Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Excerpts from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
- Excerpts from BFG by Roald Dahl
- Excerpts from Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra by Ruskin Bond
- Monologues from Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Merchant of Venice
- Monologues from James and the Giant Peach or Matilda by Roald Dahl
- Monologues from Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
- Monologues from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde
- Monologues from Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
- Monologues from The Crucible by Arthur Miller
- Regional Monologues - Indian Regional Monologues
Youth (Age: 15 to 20 years)
A participant will be allowed to perform from any one of the following: Poetry / Storytelling or Prose / Monologues
The participants have to choose their poems written by any of the following poets:
Chosen Poets in English
- Alexander Pope - The Riddle of the World, Weeping, Solitude, The Dying Christian to hugs Soul, Verses Left, Summer, Sound and Sense, An Essay on Man, An Essay on Criticism
- Sylvia Plath - A Lesson in Vengeance, A Life, A Winter Ship, Admonition. Among the Narcissi, Black Pine Tree in an Orange Light, By Candlelight, Dark Wood Dark Water, Dialogue between Ghost and Priest, Firesong, The Bee-Keeper’s Daughter, Alicante Lullaby.
- John Donne - For whom the Bell Tolls, No Man is an Island, Death be not Proud, The Dream, The Triple Fool, A Valediction:Forbidding Mourning, A Valediction: Of Weeping, The Expiration, Present in Absence, Sweetest love, Excerpts from Troilus and Cressida.
- "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti, "The Second Coming" or "The Stolen Child" by W.B. Yeats
- W.H Auden - The More Loving One, Preface, Happy Ending, If I could tell you, A Walk After Dark, August 1968, Epitaph of a Tyrant, As I walked out one evening, In Memory of W.B.Yeats,Let History be my Judge,
The participants have to choose their stories/extracts from:
- Excerpts from Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Excerpts from Nancy Drew
- Excerpts from The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh
- Excerpts from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Excerpts from Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
- Short Stories of Edgar Allen Poe
The participants have to choose their monologues from the following options:
- Monologues from The Tempest by Shakespeare
- Monologues from Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare
- Monologues from The Family Reunion by T.S.Eliot
- Monologues from Treasure Island or Kidnapped by R.L. Stevenson
- Regional Monologues - Indian Regional Monologues
Parents
- Parents may perform any poem, story, or monologue of their choice.
- The language of performance may be English, Hindi, Tamil, or any other Indian regional language.
- The duration of the performance is 4 minutes, which may be extended to a maximum of 5 minutes.
- If a parent exceeds the 5-minute time limit, they will be requested to conclude their performance.
- Participants should be appropriately dressed for their performance.
Non Alchemy Participants
The participant should perform in front of a plain backdrop / wall
The options for Juniors (4 to 7 years) are
- Poetry Rendition
- Storytelling
- Act It Out - Performance of characters from books
The options for Seniors (8 to 14 years) and Youth (15 to 20 years) are
- Poetry Rendition
- Storytelling (or) Performing Prose
- Performing Monologue
- The performer should be clearly seen in the frame. The camera should be placed appropriately and recording must be done in the landscape format
- Ensure that there is complete silence when you are recording. The fans and A/c also need to be turned off
- The video will have to be uploaded in the participants drive and link of the same needs to be pasted in the registration form
- Ensure that the link has the access activated as Anyone with the link
- All decisions taken by the Read On committee will be considered final and no discussions whatsoever will be entertained
For any queries kindly call 9841327673
