Chennai

She looks every bit the regular teenager — but a few minutes into our conversation and it is clear that Yamini Prashanth is articulate and mature beyond her years. Perhaps it is this that has made her one of the youngest published authors in the country. “I started writing when I was seven. I tried my hand at recreating stories and making sequels to the books I had enjoyed reading,” she says. 

At the age of 10, she wrote her first book, Mishti, the story of an ordinary girl who dared to break conventional attitudes. Her second book, Best of Granny’s Stories, is a collection of short stories, centred around two children, Louis and Emily, who go to visit their grandmother over a weekend. 

Now, her third book, Uma-Notso-perfect , is about a girl who moves to the UK from India and deals with finding her identity in a new place. “How Uma tries to fit in, loses herself and finds herself again is the crux,” says Yamini, who lived in London as a child. She is quick to add that although it does have traces of her life, it isn’t about her per se. 

“It’s the milieu that inspired me. I had a hard time fitting in when I was in London. I wanted to show how it’s important to adapt to an environment without also losing your identity.” Surprisingly, the young author does not adhere to a fixed writing schedule. “I don’t believe in planning; I go with the flow. I feel that one has to wait for just the right time to catch those ideas —- just like a butterfly catcher tries to catch butterflies. I rush to my laptop whenever I get an idea and if the laptop isn’t near, I use my mom’s mobile phone.” 

A trained Odissi dancer, Yamini has won numerous awards for her academic achievements, poetry recitation, classical music and dance performances. She is also one of the youngest Indian TEDx speakers. But she doesn’t think of it as a major achievement, taking such accolades in her stride. She says, “I’m like any other teenage girl. I go to school, do my homework, attend special classes and when I get time I write.”

Currently in Class 10, she tries to strike a balance between school and writing. “I somehow make time for writing poems. It’s relaxing and inspirational,” she says. She is currently working on a set of poems which she intends to publish later. However, she says she wouldn’t want to write full-time. “I want to write for the love of it, not because I have to. If I’m forced to do it, it’ll be under pressure,” she says.  

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