What can I say about a year when I FINALLY managed to take my books to audiences? At lit fests in Gurugram, Vadodara, Jaipur and Pune, I shared my books, interacted with children, and did school visits once more. Almost all through 2022, I was on a high!And yet, the true highlight of the year as a writer was the publication of a book I started writing in 2015, after I visited the beautiful forests of Nagzira. Red EyesRed Eyes is an environmental thriller, and it is one of the very few books I've written that was never rejected. I started writing it in 2015, but I'm what they call a pantser. I muddle about, writing what I can, letting the story take the lead. So, in the beginning, I had nothing but an assortment of tales told to us by guides we met in Nagzira and Tadoba.Guide tales? Interesting, sure, but I wanted more. So I started putting them all together in a story told … [Read more...]
My Year in Writing: 2021
The year 2020 was such a boost to me as a writer! With a poem published by OUP, a picture book, a chapter book, a middle-grade book and a collection of short stories, how could 2021 even hope to compete?Even so, with two publications, an award shortlist, a book going into reprint and tons of reviews, 2021 was quite lovely too! How Big Is a Whale Shark? I wrote my first nonfiction picture book! It wasn't easy, but I enjoyed the process tremendously. Best of all, though, are the stunning illustrations. Mandar Mhaskar made How Big Is a Whale Shark? what it is with a beautiful colour palette and humorous illustrations. I love the artwork!Of course, the best part about being published on StoryWeaver is the number of languages into which the book gets translated. It's already available in four languages and will soon (hopefully) be out in … [Read more...]