Popular writing in India has come of age with books in diverse genres making their presence felt among the reading public, writer and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor has said.
Releasing the latest book in the Butterfingers series by Khyrunnisa A. here, Mr. Tharoor said while Indian writing as represented by the likes of Mulk Raj Anand and R.K. Narayan appealed to only a small section of Indian society, genres such as children’s books, romantic books, and thrillers written by a new generation of Indian writers were finding great acceptance among a growing segment of Indian society that seeks entertainment in English books.
Khyrunnisa’s books, he noted, belonged to the category of genuinely popular children’s literature paralleling what western writers did a generation ago.
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They are “good yarns with good humour by a good-natured person.”
World of letters
“Children are not reading much these days, distracted as they are by moving images and computer games and we should be grateful to writers like Khyrunnisa because her books have the ability to draw children away from the distractions and immerse them in another world, helping them develop the reading habit,” he said.
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Society of non-readers
“As a society we are impoverished and are becoming a society of non-readers. So, thanks to Khyrunnisa not just for creating Butterfingers , but for enriching Indian writing with world-class children’s literature,” Mr. Tharoor said, while handing over the first copy of the book, brought out by Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House, to Nandika Rajaram of Vibgyor High, Bengaluru.
All the 5 books in the series have been launched by Dr. Tharoor.