Celebrated author, educator and philanthropist Sudha Murty left a live audience of 1,000+
individuals of all age groups at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) captivated and
craving for more just as her books do even at the age of 72.
In her session, titled ‘Tales of Grandma’, on Friday, the author of 44 books (29 in English and 15
in Kannada), Ms Murty acknowledged that she now releases one book a year.
Ms Murty, awarded India’s highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan last month, regaled the
audience with tales as a grandmother would. Asked to choose a favourite among her published
works, she said: “It is difficult to ask a mother to choose between her children, and my books
are my children.”
Ms Murty’s advice to the young audience is to develop hobbies. “It can be anything, even one is
fine if you pursue it in all earnest without letting your studies get affected. In fact, the hobby will
help you focus on your studies, while also helping you become a better person.”
To an interesting question about embracing technology through mediums such as podcasts to
deliver her stories, Ms Murty gave a revealing confession. “I have always been comfortable just
writing. Lately, I have been told that I need to look into new formats to share my stories.
Podcasts are not for me. However, I recently requested my daughter to look into the possibility
of audiobooks”.
House of Wisdom visit
The author then visited the House of Wisdom (HoW), Sharjah’s iconic cultural centre and
futuristic library, where she was introduced to the emirate’s efforts to promote culture,
knowledge and innovation amongst the younger generation in the UAE and beyond. She sifted
through HoW’s exhaustive physical and digital archives and was briefed on the various
programmes and initiatives led by HoW to stimulate imaginations and boost cross-cultural
understanding and exchange.
As part of her tour through HoW’s world-class facilities, Ms Murty stopped at the Little Reader
section, where she was briefed on the events and workshops that are designed exclusively for
children in order to develop their skills in a variety of areas. She also reviewed the wide-ranging
collection of children and young adult titles in English, Arabic and other languages.