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 story-telling session.He 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 live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube.Big-name writers, egged on by their publishers, are making social isolation feel more sociable. Literary soirees, storytelling sessions and poetry baithaks are buzzing online.Recently, children attended a workshop by award-winning 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 background.“Writing, 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 Anand.Every 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 Hindu/Indian stories to non-Indian 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 4.3k views on YouTube and Kalia’s video got 2.9k views and 114 comments.Publishers 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 lockdown."For 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. There’s a limit to how much television you can watch, or games you can play, they don’t let you take things at your own pace -- that’s something books do," says Davidar.On 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 a duration of 20 minutes to 60 minutes and interacted with the audience, says Satyanand Nirupam, editorial director, Rajkamal group. Instagram is also being put to use. They also plan to shift all these videos to their YouTube channel."I have been deluged with recommendation requests from friends for books on parenting, cookery, health, humour, business, self help, fiction and so on, and I feel this is a great time to discover and rediscover the love for reading. Families in India have been at home for weeks now and mothers are coping with distance or e-learning for their children. It is indeed a most unusual time,"says Milee Ashwarya of Penguin India Video storytelling sessions have also received enthusiastic feedback. On Penguin's Instagram page, several authors have collaborated to build a story and leave it at a cliffhanger for another author to build on. They post their videos under the hashstag Penguin TV. "On an average, we are able to create 100,000 impressions with each episode of #PenguinTV," says Niti Kumar, senior vice president of marketing, digital and communications at Penguin Random House India.The Jaipur Literature Festival has also marked its presence online under the banner JLF-in-Exile. It went online last week. "All-star line-up includes Simon Schama, Alain de Botton, Edmund de Waal, Shashi Tharoor, James Mallinson, Bee Rowlatt, Abhinav Chandrachud and Peter Frankopan," tweeted festival director William Dalrymple