new delhi the background is basic a piece of framed abstract art and a face mask hung against a white wall this is the saraswati symbol used in maharashtra it represents wisdom says popular mythology writer devdutt pattanaik as he starts a storytelling sessionhe has done this hundreds of times at literature festivals and gatherings across india but in lockdown it is different technology has demolished the distance between pattanaik in his mumbai home and his audience the speaker and the listeners are linked in an interactive session that is livestreamed on facebook and youtubebigname writers egged on by their publishers are making social isolation feel more sociable literary soirees storytelling sessions and poetry baithaks are buzzing onlinerecently children attended a workshop by awardwinning author paro anand an initiative of her publishing house called onceuponabookwithpenguin evergreen ruskin bond read out from his works food historian pushpesh pant held forth on the humble pumpkin hindi litterateur mamata kalia discussed her famous novel beghar urdu visual artist shiraz hussain painted a portrait of late urdu poet jigar moradabadi whose ghazals played in the backgroundwriting to me has been a solitary activity but over the last few years as literature festivals have become more common things have changed now writers have to be performers too sitting behind a computer to interact with readers is somewhere between being isolated and being in front of a crowd says anandevery afternoon around 4 pattanaik goes live on youtube to speak about any random topic he picks and announces on twitter where he has over 7 lakh followers he plans to do these for the duration of the lockdown i notice people prefer hinduindian stories to nonindian ones and popular puranic to obscure vedic stories he said he keeps it extempore fluid he says and finds the lack of structure liberating meanwhile pant who spoke in hindi had 43k views on youtube and kalias video got 29k views and 114 commentspublishers calculate that this is the perfect time to appeal to readers with people spending all their time at home and much of it online it made sense to give them reading options says publisher david davidar of aleph book company which is running a campaign called 21 days 21 stories where they make one book or excerpt freely available everyday juggernaut another publishing house made its catalogue free on march 21 under the readinstead online literature festival for the duration of the lockdownfor those who read and there are still many who do it is very important in times like these it provides a sort of sanctuary when you feel threatened by this torrent of worrying news theres a limit to how much television you can watch or games you can play they dont let you take things at your own pace thats something books do says davidaron twitter hindi publishing house rajkamal prakashan has announced a list of authors for live storytelling sessions we roped in 70 authors who went live on facebook for