14-year-old author on an adventure to share compelling narratives

CHENNAI: Back in the year 2016, when Sharvanth Saravanan was seven, waiting for his father’s friend to come home with some gift in hand, was rather unhappy to see a set of two books. “That’s not a stirring gift for a seven year old,” he said.

Param Vir Chakra and Jataka Tales remained untouched, without a crease in his shelf for many months. “One day as I was watching TV, something struck me.

I turned it off and went straight towards the two books on my shelf, and started reading, only to fall in love with both of them, one after the other,” says Sharvanth, who has accomplished reading 500 books over the course of seven years.

Studying in grade nine, the fourteen year old is now a proud author of three books. The pandemic made Sharvanth’s father, a manager working for Amazon, urge his son to start writing on something that interested him after many years of voracious reading.

“With a diary in hand, I started penning down my thoughts together into a mystery fiction, which became my first book, ‘The Abysmal Thief and Other Stories’.

I incorporated seven short stories and two fables,” narrates the writer, who has centered the seven stories following the adventures of a charming private detective, Rohan. Every year since 2020, Sharvanth has published a new book, which continues another new adventure of the detective.

“I grew fondness for adventure and mystery from the works of Enid Blyton and JK Rowling. My character, detective Rohan, solves mysteries, fights bad guys conquering some of his own fears, all the while looking as cool as a cucumber,” laughs Sharvanth.

It’s not every day that one makes it into the India Book of Records. In 2021, the writer achieved a title in India Book of Records to be the youngest to write adventures of a detective.

“I was recently titled Grand Master for writing a trilogy of fiction at the age of 13, on the adventures of a detective from Asia Book of Records on May 25, this year,” states the writer, who also delivered a keynote address to students at IIT Delhi on July 22, 2023, focusing on ‘Self Care Practices for Maintaining Mental Well Being’.

Sharvanth emphasises the importance of reading, highlighting, “I found my flair for writing once I started reading. I want more children of my age to read as much as possible, and find their potential through the whole experience of reading and writing.”