World Book and Copyright Day: Top Indian authors on which book turned them into readers

Every year April 23 is celebrated as World Book and Copyright Day "to promote the enjoyment of books and reading," as per UNESCO's website. The celebrations take place across the world to honor and recognize the benefits of books.

"23 April is a symbolic date in world literature. It is the date on which several prominent authors, William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. This date was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference, held in Paris in 1995, to pay a worldwide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone to access books," reads a statement on UNESCO's website.

And so, on the occasion of World Book and Copyright Day, we asked some top Indian authors to share their earliest memory of a book that turned them into readers. Read on to know more.

Photo: Canva

"As a kid, it would have to be the 'Mahabharata Retold' by Rajagopalachari. It brought home the complex epic to me in simple terms. I realized that the most complex stories can be narrated simply," author Ashwin Sanghi told us. Sanghi's new book 'The Magicians of Mazda' is expected to be released on May 21, 2022.

Photo: HarperCollins India

"'The Mahabharata'! As a child, I used to read all the titles from 'The Mahabharata' and it always left me wanting more. And more! It made me greedy for the written word. Sometimes, when a story is beyond great and truly epic, you don't ever want it to end. The beautiful complexity of 'The Mahabharata' ensures that you keep returning to it, because there is always something new for faithful readers to discover," shared mytho-fiction author Anuja Chandramouli.

Photo: Anuja Chandramouli/ Twitter

"I have been an avid reader from childhood. 'Amar Chitra Katha' in Malayalam and other children’s magazines in Malayalam by Paico like 'Poombatta' and 'Balarama' brought me to the world of books. My first English book, outside what is a part of the school syllabus, was the 'Freedom at Midnight' which I read after my 10th standard," revealed popular mytho-fiction author Anand Neelakantan.

Photo: Anand Neelakantan

“There were two authors who made me fall irrevocably in love with them- Enid Blyton and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans). Growing up binging on all the Blyton series, it was 'The Mill on the Floss' which turned me from a voracious to a serious reader. 'Tom and Maggie Tulliver' remain my all-time favorite stories not to forget the devoted 'Philip Wakem'. All such moving, tragic characters (turned me into a reader)," said popular mytho-fiction author Kavita Kane.

Photo: Kavita Kane

"I had a huge, thick, clothbound, exquisitely illustrated unabridged version of the Brothers' Grimm Fairy Tales when I was quite young. I think it was gifted to me by someone well-meaning but totally unaware of how inappropriate it was for a very young kid like I was then, barely five. It was totally out of my reading league, being unabridged, but the illustrations were so exquisite that I forced myself to go through it, asking my mother and father for help when I got stuck on the words. The stories were dark and horrific, and fascinating. There were the lesser-known fairy tales in it, tales that we still don't hear about, there were around 209 tales if I remember right, and I've never liked to read plain narrative vanilla stories ever since. And I think much of the dark, strange stories I write now owe themselves to that book I read then," said author Kiran Manral who has written books in various genres like romance, parenting, thrillers, and more.

Photo: Kiran Manral

"Erich Segal's 'Love Story' was the first book which I read and that was recommended to me by an English professor; this was when I was writing my own first book. In fact Erich Segal's 'Love Story' is the book with which the title of my debut novel 'I Too Had A Love Story' was coined. The reason the English professor had recommended this book was that he first heard my story, the one that I was writing which is a real-life story, and then he said 'let me recommend you a book, first you should read it and then you should resume writing'. I was very emotional when I finished reading it. And once I read the book, I said that I too had a love story and I must finish mine! This was kind of a conviction statement that I ended up telling myself and I finished that book. And that's how my book's title was also coined," popular romance writer Ravinder Singh shared with us.

Ravinder Singh/ Instagram

"I started reading as soon as I learned how to. My father had a transferable job, and a huge collection of books. He was an ardent book lover and very early on, I learned to love books just like him. Any place we moved to, the books moved with us. The first thing my father would do is take a membership for us at a local library. One of the happiest memories of my childhood is my father taking me and my brother to these libraries and telling us to choose books.

I began reading 'Amar Chitra Kathas' at a young age. Then read 'Phantom and Mandrake' comics. (I inherited my love of art from these early books). After that, I graduated to 'Enid Blytons' and also 'Asterix and Obelix'. I read everything I could lay my hands on. I read all the classics. 'Around The World In Eighty Days', 'Prince and The Pauper', 'The Invisible Man', 'Scarlet Pimpernel' are some of the titles that immediately come to my mind. I loved 'Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn'. I loved the 'Little Women' series and also Richmal Crompton's 'Just William' collection. These were the books u grew up with!," popular Indian author Preeti Shenoy told us.

Photo: Preeti Shenoy