Nine young girl authors came together for a joint book launch on Saturday. They are students of the MSB Matriculation Higher Secondary School in the city. The book release event would have been appropriately titled as ‘blossom from buds to full blown’. The Story Mirror publishing house from Delhi collaborated with the school committee that supported the budding authors.
The story behind the books by young authors is that the initiative came from the school. Sixteen potential authors were selected for the event who worked individually on their manuscripts along guidelines and instructions given by their mentors. The team of mentors constantly motivated the students and aided them with appropriate literary guidance to bring out the inherent talent in them.
It was not only the school which supported the authors. Their parents also gave them all the encouragement to complete the project. “A girl who never opened up to the people around her started writing”, shared Zainad, young author of fairy tales.
Out of the 16 students chosen, nine emerged as a remarkable bunch of authors who can aim for excellence in the future too. The teachers guided them to express themselves and the books went through a thorough technical editing process before they were published.
The nine books by the talented authors are: ‘Fashion 2130’ by Batul Devaswala (15); ‘My Dad’, by Naqiya Mustafa Sunelwala (16); RH Diaries by Batul Lokhandwala (15), ‘The Letter Fiasco’ by Sakina Colombo (16); ‘The World Within Me’ which is a collection of poems by Jamila Valsadwala (17); ‘The Ambit of Life’ by Fathima Bombaywala (17), ‘Let the Boat Sail’ by Mariyah Yusuf (17), ‘The Evergreen Tree - The Mysteries within’ by Zainab Jasdanwala (15) and ‘Beneath the Shade of the sky’ by Munira Juzer (17).
The ‘Letter Fiasco’ is a reflection of the bond between her and her best friends which inspired her to write the book, informed Sakina. Some just wrote their autobiography, others on personal relationships and sweet memories and some came up with the idea of empowering women. A personal diary was also part of the publishing mix.
“The purpose to pen down my beautiful bonding and relationship with my dad made me write this book, as all say that father is daughter’s first love”, shared Naqiya Mustafa Sunelwala.
The subject matter was not confined to the girls’ imagination as the topics ranged from the role of ‘a woman’, her relationships, working from under a veil, environmental issues and their thoughts on life in school.
“I have been working on this book for approximately six months. As for the royalties, I would like to give it to my sister Naqiyah, whom I dedicated my book to. She can buy whatever she wants”, shared the passionate author of the book ‘Fashion 2130,’ Batul Devaswala. Her picky nature while choosing clothes drove Batul to write the book on 21st century fashion.
“I wanted to inspire at least one person in this world. I wrote this book to reach the hearts of dreamers just like me”, said Mariyah Yusuf while explaining her passion towards writing at a tender age as she has been doing from the age of 11. This book took her five months to complete.
Indian film director, screenwriter and producer Narain Lingusamy was in attendance as the chief guest to cheer the young girls. The guest of honour, Shashidhar Sharma, contributed to further creativity by sharing tips with the budding authors.
