Indian author wins Asian book award

SINGAPORE: A 31-year-old Indian woman author in Singapore has won the “Scholastic Asian Book Award” for her 32,000-word manuscript rooted in “love of Indian history”.

According to Press Trust of India (PTI), Aditi Krishnakumar won the S$10,000 award this week for her manuscript “Codex: The Lost Treasure Of The Indus”.

Aditi, who submitted her manuscript hours before deadline last September, said she juggles writing with her career in finance and ekes out time at night and on weekends to dream up stories.

“There were times when I thought I’d never be able to meet the deadline, though I managed it in the end,” said Aditi, who has been living in Singapore for the past three years.

“One of my biggest challenges was to not get distracted by the internet,” The Straits Times on Saturday quoted Aditi as saying.

The manuscript, to be published by Scholastic Asia, follows Codex “linguist, mathematician and all-round” geek, as she works with Agent Lila Raman to decipher the mysterious script of the Indus Valley civilization, the report said.

“It can be a challenge… But I wouldn’t change it. I enjoy my job and I love writing,” Aditi said as she spoke about writing.

“I’ve always loved reading and I think writing was a natural progression from that. My earliest serious ambition was to be an author and that stayed with me through everything else I’ve done,” she said.

“It’s a real page-turner. I couldn’t stop reading it.

“It’s also a book that has a subtext of interest in the deep history of India.

“So the book has a contemporary feel, but it is also rooted in an interest in and love of Indian history,” American historian and author Leonard Marcus, one of the judges for the award, said about the manuscript.

The Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA) is the joint initiative of the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) and Scholastic Asia.

-BERNAMA

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