-Autar Nehru (Delhi)

A class IX student of Prelude Public School, Agra, Akshar Mishra is the latest teen to join India’s league of young novelists. On April 8, this 14-year-old’s second novel The World of Magic Powers (Himanshu Publications) was released at Prelude School jointly by Dr. Prateep Philip (former DGP, Tamil Nadu & author), Salim Arif (writer and theatre director) and Girija Shankar (senior journalist-author). This is the young writer’s second novel after Dozen Spurring Tales (2019) which has thus far sold 1,500 copies, the proceeds of which have gone to a local cancer charity. Inspired by J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, the novels are a potpourri of fantasy and sci-fi.

“Akshar’s class teacher Pooja mam identified his writing skills in early age and took on the responsibility of editing 12 of his best stories for inclusion in his first novel. When the teacher made a mention of Akshar’s talent during a conversation with the school’s Director-Principal Dr. Sushil Gupta, he read the manuscript and instantly approached a Delhi-based publisher he knew. Dozen Spurring Tales (price: Rs.99) was finally released on April 11, 2019 at Prelude Public School thanks to Dr. Gupta. With such an encouraging management, I believe this school deserves to be ranked Agra #1 in the EW India School Rankings,” says Akshar’s father Shabd.

The Mishras chose to move from the maximum city Mumbai in 2008 to Agra’s Dayalbagh Ashram where “life is all about purity, commitment, dedication, hard work, honesty & simplicity”. This enabled Akshar to devote a lot of time to reading and writing. When Covid hit India and the world went online, Akshar hand wrote his second book which was edited and proof-read by his senior school English teacher Ranjana Gupta.

To transform into a novelist, young Akshar practices time management. “I make sure I read for two hours every day after completing my homework. But I also make time for sports and games and I’m in the school football team. The advantage I have is that I don’t have distractions like television or digital gizmos. So I have plenty of time for writing,” says this disciplined young author.

Aspiring to study computer science after completing class XII, Akshar wants to become a social entrepreneur which will provide him “plenty of material” to continue writing on the side.