Talent Teeside young author becomes a sell-out hit in Kerala, India
A primary schoolboy from Teeside has become a bestselling author in an unlikely location.
Rohan Denny, 11, a Year 6 student at St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School, Nunthorpe wrote a ten-chapter book called Emmanuel and the multicoloured Men. And having been published at Once Upon a Time Book Shop in Kerala, India, in August, the first 250 copies have already sold out – making it one of the store’s bestsellers.
Rohan’s mum, Anitha Devassy, is from Kerala and got Rohan’s book published while she was on holiday there this summer. She was surprised at where her son’s imagination took him.
Anitha, 43, who works in the neurosurgery department at James Cook University Hospital, said: “Rohan told me initially that he had a dream and he likes to talk as well so he wanted me to listen to it and it was not ending. He said it was a kind of dream where someone was attacking our home and he was trying to escape.
“We were half an hour into the conversation and he was not finished so I said ‘why don’t you write and read it all?’ I never expected him to write a ten-chapter book.”
The young author told him mum that there were “too many dreams coming”, but then she realised by “dreams” Rohan meant ideas so he put them into words in the form of his novel which is a mystery and action story about a young boy and his little brother who escape their Middlesbrough home after being attacked by multicoloured men.
The two boys go on a quest to find the multicoloured men and destroy them for their survival. It is likely that Rohan used inspiration from his own life to create the story as he lives in Nunthorpe with his younger brother Noel, five-years-old.
Rohan spent six to eight months writing his novel, according to Anitha, who has had to order another 250 copies as her colleagues told her they would like to read it. Rohan also designed the cover page of his book and wrote the blurb.
Anitha and her husband, Denny Mani, 44, who works in healthcare, are “very proud” of their son. She said: “As a family we are really, really proud of him.”
Anitha continued: “Since he started reading, from nursery, Rohan was always interested in reading. He was attracted to reading and as a mum I read a lot.
“I’ve grown up reading so when Rohan was growing up it was one of my wishes that he would be interested in reading. I tried not to give him a mobile or any gadgets when he was growing up so it would give him a chance to read so we have a practice not to use mobiles or play games from Monday to Friday.”
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