City-bred author shares stories with tiny tots

Neha Saini

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 7

A city-bred author Natasha Sharma is in the city to conduct a three day workshop and reading sessions of her books at One Up library. In her interaction with children of different age groups, Natasha has been telling three different stories written by her. “It is wonderful to hear children out as they have an opinion on everything. The purpose of my workshop is to inspire children through childhood experiences and share their stories,” says Natasha.

Begining with her latest book “Rooster Raga”, a story about a rooster, who has lost his cuckoo doo doo, the concept of accepting one’s uniqueness played down well with the tiny tots and their parents. She says, “It is a book with illustrations done by Priya Kurien and highlights the fact that one should accept their unique identity. A rooster who decides to try out every tune and song to get his identity back, in process, becomes special and so is every child.” Another book “Bonkers”, about a dog, is a story inspired by her own childhood. “While growing up in a city, we had 40 animals in our house. It was an amazing experience every day. To care for them, take responsibility and play with them meant I had a bundle of stories to tell. My books are inspired from my own experiences,” says Natasha. Now settled in Mumbai, the author has come up with a series of historical fiction for young adults. The books, combining mystery and history together, will have stories that teach about some historical facts in an interesting way. “I will be doing a session of the first book in the series with children here, who are taking up to reading confidently and developing communication through the stories they read. It is encouraging for writers, young and old, to have a receptive young audience,” she says.

A voracious reader herself, Natsha feels that the young breed of writers is starting big with fantasy and fiction. She says, “The popularity of Utopian themes shows how these youngsters have created such an imaginative world of words and their ability to have their own space in a competitive environment.”