GupShup with Soumya Ayer

In our latest episode of GupShup, we spoke to children’s book author Soumya Ayer.

Soumya’s interest in the world of books and stories developed during her early childhood. She would not call it a day until she heard that bedtime story from her father every single night. At the age of four, she knew, that she too, wanted to tell stories. 

But did it unfold as planned? Not quite! Life took her in other directions. She studied to become an engineer followed by a degree in MBA.

After a few years in the corporate world, Soumya got married, moved countries and had kids. Amidst all these changes, the only constant factor in her life was her writing. “It was my way to deal with change,” she says.

The inspiration for her first book was the process of reading to her first born. She realized that she could weave together all the mythological stories she used to hear as a kid into her very own book. 

The dream that the four-year old Soumya had seen, became a reality with first book, Krishna the Cowherd Prince. It was a compilation of stories about Krishna’s childhood. 

Her third book, Lights for the Blue Prince, was written as a script for a shadow puppet piece that she would take to her children’s class to talk about Diwali. The rhythm of the script lent itself to a children’s book, and she teamed up with a photographer to help her photograph her shadow puppets.

Earlier this year (2022), Soumya got her big break with HarperCollins India, when her book The Ghost of Malabar, was published.

Although the idea behind The Ghost of Malabar sprouted in 2008, it was only a few years later that the story started taking shape. 

Watch the full episode of GupShup with Soumya Ayer, as she talks about her journey through the world of books and stories.