We are proud of all our writers, but every now and then, we also like
to feature our best ones.

Here are a few such star writers. Do take the time to read their brilliant work.

Atharv Balaji – Featured Writer for May – June 2021 – (junior category)

Atharv Balaji, 10 years old, is a grade 5 student in Bangalore. He likes sports, music, drawing, and shading. He is an avid reader and loves reading fantasy and mystery novels. His favourite book series include Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Chronicles of Narnia, Secret Seven, Malory Towers, and Hardy Boys. Roald Dahl and Mark Twain are some of his favourite authors.

He likes creating and writing fantasy stories too. In his third grade, he won 3^rd place in a Budding Writers competition held at his school. Mathematics is his favourite subject in which he has won several trophies also.

His hobbies include football, playing his guitar, and playing board games with his friends and family.

PREVIOUS FEATURED WRITERS
Madhav Bahl – Featured Writer for February – March 2021 – (junior category)

Madhav Bahl, 13 years old, is a student of DPS RK Puram. He is a multi-faceted personality and an avid sportsman who also loves to write. He is a nature lover, a foodie, and an avid reader.

The current corona pandemic, challenging for most of us, brought out some hidden skills of Madhav. He has been stuck alone with his grandmother in Saharanpur during the lockdown. He experienced nature through gardening, gaining knowledge about various plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables that were planted in the house garden. His love for cows came to the fore. He would feed and clean them on a regular basis. Apart from taking care of his grandmom and milking the cows, he also learned tree climbing.

At a very young age, Madhav loved horses and learned to ride. He went on to win the horse riding (under 7yr championship) in his first attempt. Cricket, tennis, swimming…Madhav loves sports. Winning some and losing some, has made Madhav realize the value of sports, sportsmanship, and team spirit.

While traveling Madhav prefers beaches and natural sojourns.
He likes to explore various cuisines with seafood being his favourite.

In his free time, he likes to binge Netflix shows.

Featured Writer for January 2021 – (junior category)

Naman Anilkumar

Naman Anilkumar is 12 years old. He’s been homeschooled for 10 years and is currently studying in Orchids International, Vijayanagar Bangalore. Naman started acting school (Vijayanagara Bimba) at the age of 5 years and performed in various plays.

His keen interests are theater, music, creative writing, Kannada literature, Indian mythology, travelling. Since childhood he spends his free time practicing dialogues, writing scripts/poems, and composing songs. Currently, he is taking senior Hindustani music lessons.

Influenced by his school radio, Naman runs his own radio channel on YouTube called Makkala Radio in Kannada language  

(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgJuBJSjRmGCv2xItiwRkHg )

Being a big fan of Dr.Rajkumar, he wants to be an actor in the future. Currently, his favorite activities are watching travel guides and translating/creating stories in story weaver. https://storyweaver.org.in/users/271111

Afreen Shanavas

Afreen Shanavas is a co-author of two new anthologies; A Mélange Of Memories and Thrive. She has spent her childhood reading fiction and loves writing short fiction. One of her works is under publication in an anthology The Unheard Voices. Her work has also appeared in the Inframe magazine under The Great Indian Art Project.

She finds inspiration in the simple pleasures of life, be it a dazzling vista out of the window or watching the sunset. A self-proclaimed feminist whose works has a touch of predicaments and concerns faced by women around the globe, she is deeply honored to use her voice for the silenced. Afreen is also passionate about travelling and photography. A bilingual and not-so-much-dedicated cinephile, her other hobbies include cycling and playing badminton. Though born in India, she was raised in United Arab Emirates and now makes her home in India.

Divija Vaish

Divija Vaish is a sixteen-year-old, studying in the 11th at Mayo College Girls’ School, a boarding school in Ajmer. She enjoys swimming, and has taken part in multiple aquatic competitions till the IPSC level where she’s won several awards. In the winter, when it’s too cold to swim, she plays tennis. She also enjoys the occasional bit of quizzing and creative writing. Since she was nine, she’s been taking the Trinity Speech and Drama exam (which is an exam conducted by the Trinity College, London, that tests speaking and performing skills) and has certificates of distinction (above 85%) till Grade 6.

She hasn’t been as active with her writing as she’d have liked – because of the “burden” of being in the 10th grade, but now that it’s finally over (more like cancelled), she plans on getting back and hopefully, starting her own blog.

In her free time, she can be found listening to music, or reading, or attempting to do both (never works out, 0/10 recommend this).

Divija aspires to be a lawyer, or a journalist, or maybe even a criminal psychologist.

Prakriti Panwar

Prakriti is a Grade Xl student of Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram. She is a wordsmith, a bookworm, and a prolific writer. At the age of 14, her short story was selected to be published as part of an e-book after she won a countrywide contest. She has also been a part of the Times Of India (NIE) editorial team and has done quite a few content writing internships as well. Other than writing, she loves to paint, play the guitar and piano and sing. Being the daughter of a Naval Officer, she has lived across the country and travelled the world. Both have been key factors in shaping her perspectives. To follow her passion for writing, Prakriti wishes to pursue journalism. She also runs her own blog (www.pristineponderings.com) and the Instagram page (pristie_ponderings), where she actively shares her writings and views on current issues.