College student Sada Panga remembers the first time a school teacher gave her a book by eminent Telugu poet N Gopi.
The teacher, Ravi Kumar, was a PhD scholar, and was studying these books when he lent one to his student.
She remembers being so influenced by it that she decided to switch from writing prose to composing poetry!
Now, this youngster is forging ahead with writings of her own, which she is selling at the ongoing Hyderabad Book Fair.
And she is not alone!
The current edition of the fair is playing host to several budding writers, who are more than happy to have this platform to showcase their talent.
Young authors and poets
Sada currently has two titles to her name. The first is the Telugu poetry collection Annaganaga Okka Bhavam.
The second one is a collection of English poetry supplemented by illustrations.
This student of the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Degree College — which functions under the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) — has named it The Unseen Robbery.
She was one of the handful of undergraduate students who were showcasing their works at the TSWREIS stall at the book fair, accompanied by their lecturers N Padmamma and Sandhya Deepthi.
There was also Shravan Kumar Lingampally, who had written a book of 100 English poems.
He named it The Flying Rainbow.
The lecturers explained to South First that the college students were selling a total of 15 titles written by them.
Besides poetry, these books encompassed several other genres, including crime!
Readers at the stall — managed by the students of the college — seemed to be interested in the works of these young authors.
Some of them were even seen buying a copy or two of the works of these college students.
The book fair’s initiative
Hyderabad Book Fair Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mohammed Sadiq Pasha confirmed that the Hyderabad Book Fair Society, which organises the annual event, makes it a point to encourage young writers.
Related: Audiobooks, discounts at Hyderabad Book Fair
To that end, the organisers this time have dedicated an entire stall to such authors.
Pasha explained that several authors — irrespective of age — have had a chance to showcase their works to visitors through this initiative.
One young author who seemed to be garnering quite some attention was 15-year-old Vaishnavi Ananta, and this was not even her first time at the Hyderabad Book Fair!
The teen has been writing books since she was 14, if not younger, and has been making a name for herself with them.
This time, she and her family were at the stall interacting with readers, alongside a bunch of authors who were showcasing their books — self-published or otherwise.
