Exploring Literature Across Borders: Cross Cultural Exchange for School Children

As the year draws to a close, I find myself pausing to reflect on the months that have passed. It has been a year that stretched me gently but firmly, nudging me into new spaces before I even realised I had stepped into them. My work continued to revolve around books and children, and the small, luminous moments that happen when the two come together. That has been the quiet centre of my year.

One experience, in particular, stands out every time I reflect on this journey: Literature Across Borders (LaB)...a one-of-a-kind international literary exchange for young people’s literature, LaB was conceptualised by Dr.Alexia Casale of Bath Spa University, UK, along with our very own award-winning author Meghaa Gupta. It is a program built on the belief that stories can hold doors open…between people, cultures, and ways of seeing.

As Ursula K. Le Guin reminds us, “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” 

LaB, for me, has been about that journey: the crossings, the conversations, and the shared discoveries.

The pilot edition brought together students from Bath, UK; Florida, USA; and Abacus Montessori School, Chennai. We are proud to be the first Indian school to be part of LaB. Being entrusted to lead the Indian leg felt both humbling and energising.

LaB ran from April to June 2025, right through our long summer break. I expected interest, but I hadn’t imagined the wholehearted commitment the children, aged 12 to 14, would show. They signed up voluntarily, read the books without reminders, and logged in from wherever they happened to be: cousins’ homes, holiday trips, grandparents’ living rooms.

What moved me most were the gentle, unexpected moments: signing in early only to find many faces already waiting; the excited messages asking, “We are meeting today, right?” There were no grades, no certificates, no rewards. Yet their willingness to show up, fully and joyfully, was its own kind of reward for both them and me. 

Each 90-minute session seemed to vanish in an instant. We asked hard questions, challenged one another, created, laughed, debated, and read some more. I watched them grow, not only as readers but as listeners and thinkers, as young people learning to hold multiple perspectives at once. It reminded me why literature, especially in the hands of children, is such powerful work.

Perhaps the strongest evidence of LaB’s impact is this: every single participant, except one with unavoidable sporting commitments, has chosen to return for the next edition.

As I prepare for LaB 2026, with two themes and two schools, I carry with me the memory of those summer mornings: a grid of small, bright faces, each one willing to cross borders that are invisible on maps but real in the heart. If stories are journeys, then this year, I had the privilege of travelling alongside some remarkable companions.