Srinagar, July 27 -- Every civilisation is, in the end, a story it tells its children. In Kashmir, that story has lived for nearly nine centuries in the verses of Kalhana's Rajatarangini - the River of Kings - carried faithfully through the corridors of universities and research libraries, waiting for the moment it could reach the young readers who might draw the most meaning from it. This year, at the third edition of the Chinar Book Festival in Srinagar, that moment arrived, in a manner that feels less like an event and more like the start of a restoration.

The Chinar Book Festival began as a gathering, a celebration of the written word in a region whose relationship with literature has always been intimate. Across three editions, it h...