Founded May 2024 · Urbana-Champaign, IL
Once a month at the public library in Urbana-Champaign, Divvya A. Singh transforms an ordinary room into a space where children encounter South Asian heritage through stories, clay, craft, and the kind of creative practices that stay in the hands and in the memory. Aao Kahani Suno (AKS) is a free storytelling initiative founded by Divvya A. Singh in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, and supported by her three close friends Manjula Tekal, Sirisha Bhandaru, and Shailaja Mehta.
— Divvya A. Singh
So much of our cultural memory — our stories, our rituals — can fade when we move away from the homeland that nurtured them. In India, we absorbed these traditions instinctively. In the diaspora, we are asked to explain them, and in doing so, we rediscover their meaning.
AKS sessions are not lectures. Children listen while their hands are busy: shaping clay Ganeshas, folding paper, making modaks. Their attention flows differently — they are both listening and creating, both rooted and free. Kids don't respond well to lectures. What truly matters becomes meaningful when it's interactive.
Free
Every session, always
Once a month
At the public library
Since 2024
Founded May 2024
What we do
Live read-aloud sessions where Divvya walks among children, book in hand. Stories are chosen intentionally — books by Indian authors, featuring familiar characters, words and rituals that feel the children's own, alongside stories about immigrant characters where they see themselves on the page.
Children shape clay Ganeshas, roll modaks, cut bright paper and illustrate as they listen. Hands-on creative work is participatory, not passive — the pride and ownership children feel when they make something helps them connect with its deeper significance.
A South Asian-style community fair filled with nostalgia, childhood memories, games and shared celebration. The inaugural Mela was held in August 2025 at the Asian American Cultural Center, UIUC — made possible by the South Asian Studies Initiative and Divvya's community of friends and supporters.
AKS has celebrated Mother's Day, Father's Day and Grandparents' Day with shared crafts and stories, weaving together generations. Parents bring children back again and again; grandparents quietly observe, then join in. The goal is to be a bridge between East and West, honouring the wisdom that shapes us.
From the sessions
The founder
Reader · Poet · Volunteer · Community-builder
“My goal is to help children build a collective identity that includes finding their own voice — because how can we truly know ourselves if we don't know where we come from?”
A banker by training, a mother by choice, and a community-builder by conviction, Divvya began Aao Kahani Suno in May 2024 — inspired by the simple act of reading stories to her child and recognising the need for a space where such moments could be built into a community.
From its first sessions funded from her own savings, AKS has grown into intimate library circles and a vibrant community festival — funded by the community as well as the South Asian Studies Initiative at UIUC.
Humans respond most deeply to connection. In live storytelling, there's an exchange of energy between the teller and the listener. The storyteller adapts in real time, sensing what resonates. The listener feels seen, heard, and empowered to share their own story.
Digital entertainment is like opening a box of pre-made food — it may satisfy momentarily, but it doesn't nourish connection. Oral storytelling is like teaching a child to cook: hands-on, sensory, and memorable.
In the diaspora this matters even more. Diasporic children often inherit culture in fragments. Aao Kahani Suno offers a space for cultural representation and reconnection — not to enforce tradition, but to share stories so children can discover where they come from and, in turn, find themselves.
Sessions are free and open to all. AKS sessions happen once a month at the public library in Urbana-Champaign. Want to collaborate, host an event, or simply get updates? Reach out below or follow along.
Comments & Feedback
Whether your child attended a session, you volunteered at the Mela, or a story moved you — we’d love to hear from you. Your words keep this circle growing.
Notes shared by families and friends of AKS.
“I love your stories! Kudos to the team.”
— Ruta Mehta