Budding writer dwells on import of cyber safety

SHARJAH: “Writing is my irst love, and I will be restless if I had to be in any other ield,” said 13-year-old award-winning author and public speaker Malavika Rajesh, as she addressed an audience of young book lovers and aspiring writers who came to the Sharjah Children’s Reading festival( sc rf 2018) looking for inspiration not in a grownup author, but in their peers who go to school, and live their lives just as these children do.

A Grade 9 student, Rajesh started writing when she was just 5 years old. She is fascinated by the works of Dan Brown, whose inluence is amply seen in her irst book, a cybercrime mystery, Watch Out. She told the audience that through a series of adventures and thrilling mysteries in her novella she tries to convey to her readers, especially teenagers who use social media and the internet, the importance of cyber safety, and the need to reach out to parents for help when one sees oneself in any kind of cyber danger.

Across from Rajesh was Shahd Da’ana, the youngest writer of children’ s theatrical texts in the Arab world, and Jordan’s youngest broadcaster for Zahra Radio and television. Her published shorty story, Lulu the Fish, is a heartwarming tale of a ish family who face several troubles due to increasing pollution levels in the sea.

“I believe we need to save the world in which we live in and protect our environment from the way it is being abused,” said Da’ana stressing on the urgent need of reversing the process of environmental degradation worldwide.

Both young panellists thanked their parents, and their schools, teachers and their friends for supporting them unconditionally in the pursuit of their dreams and encouraged their audience to get their hands on to as many books as possible if they aspired to write well one day.