Indian authors eager to cash in on Harry Potter boom

New Delhi, Aug 10 (UNI) After the 'Harry Potter' series reached Indian shores and unleashed its magic, Indian writers are now eager to cash in on the booming market.

This idea prevailed during the launch of 'Revenge of the Noble Spirit', a coffee table book, by G S Dutt in India International Centre Annexe here yesterday.

The book, second in the 'Adventure of Nikki' series with a central theme of ' you dare and you will get it', was released by India's premier cricket woman and Arjuna Award winner of this year Anjum Chopra and leading fashion designer Gauri Karan of Gauri-Nainika fashion label.

The story shows Nikki, the central character, facing challenges as her best friend is kidnapped and murdered but Nikki's cleverness and courage helps her emerge victorious in the end. The book has an element of 'parapsychology' and claims to bridge the void in young adult fiction genre.

Ms Anjum noted the book would appeal to the readers as it was closer to reality and kept the inquisitiveness alive till the end.

The first book in the series 'An Endless Journey' was published last year. Talking about his third book, 'Missing Girl', to be released next year, Mr Dutt told UNI that it would show Nikki getting into drug addiction, which is a growing problem with today's youth.

''With every book, the character is growing. In the first book, Nikki was a child, today she is a teenager while the third book will showcase her as a college student,'' explained the author.

Mr Dutt, a management guru, started writing stories following his passion. ''Writing about Nikki has been so close to my heart that now I want to write about her only.'' The author feels that there was a lot of scope for Indian writers as readers were now ready to experiment. ''Potter series has played a major role in inculcating reading habit in children.'' This habit should be channelised by Indian authors.

''There was a time, when Indian writers were considered successful after getting recognition from the west,'' he observed.

However, the trend is changing today and India's self worth is improving. Even the western world was waking to the fact that Indians were good,'' he added.

However, he pointed out that Indian book industry lacks ''marketing phenomenon'', which has the ability to bring the readers of vastly different inclinations, ages and cultures into a common conversation. ''After all in today's world success depends on how things are packaged and that includes literature as well.'' UNI