She writes because she loves stories so much that she doesn’t want them to end. “I’ve always loved reading and have been writing since I was seven,” says 13-year-old Yamini Prashanth, one of the youngest published authors in the country, who is all set to release her second book, Best of Granny’s Stories . “I started by writing sequels to books that I read such as Enid Blyton’s St. Clares series. I didn’t want to let go of those characters and I love putting ideas into words,” she explains.
Best of Granny’s Stories , which is about two children spending a weekend with their grandmother, is a riot of colour and imagination — a perfect read for a young reader. “Six to eight-year-olds and even toddlers whose parents read out to them will enjoy this collection. They are simple stories of everyday life, infused with some message.
And they are all related to the children by their grandmother — grannies always tell good stories, don’t they?” she smiles.
So does Yamini. Her first book, titled Mishti, written when she was all of eleven , is a collection of heart-warming stories set in a small Indian town. It captures incidents from the life of a tomboyish little girl, Mishti, who she says is, “a bit like me.”
“I was bored during my fifth grade summer holidays. So I just took out my laptop and began to type out this story. I like simple, ordinary stories and Mishti is all about them. Writing it was a lot of fun,” she says, adding that she has also illustrated the book. “I learnt the basics of line drawing for this purpose,” she says.
Books have always been a huge part of Yamini’s life and she credits her father for having introduced her to them. From familiar favourites like Enid Blyton, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson, the simple, lyrical prose of Ruskin Bond, to the magnificence of Shakespeare, the brilliance of Dickens, and Greek, Roman, and Indian Mythology, Yamini’s repertoire is eclectic and diverse.
“My father has always gifted me books and he would ask me to review them after I was done. This helped me improve my writing to a large extent,” she says.
Besides reading and writing, she is also a trained dancer, is learning music, plays basketball and is one of the youngest speakers at TEDx. Despite it all, she appears remarkably grounded and unassuming.
“I’m really forgetful, so I write the minute an idea pops into my head. And I write a lot before my exam, it helps me de-stress,” she laughs.
On future plans, she says that she has another couple of novels on their way. “The first is a story of four horses, the second is about a girl who moves to the UK and how she adjusts to life there.” And though writing is certainly a priority, she says that it isn’t her only one.
“I don’t want to be just a writer — I want to do something in microbiology or genetics. Let’s see how life pans out,” she says a trifle philosophically.
