(From left) Anuja Chauhan, Biman Nath, Rakshandha Jalil and Aruna Gill at the Patna Literature Festival on Saturday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, March 23: Anuja Chauhan claimed that it was erroneous to classify her as a young writer but the gaggle of girls who followed her around today at the Patna Literature Festival proved how popular she is among the youth.

“I’m 42 for heaven’s sake,” said the author of bestseller The Zoya Factor and more recently Those Pricey Thakur Girls.

Despite her demurs, the session she addressed was titled: “Reading Young India: Emerging Readership”. There Chauhan, along with novelists Biman Nath and Aruna Gill, and literary critic Rakshandha Jalil discussed cutting-edge developments in contemporary Indian literature.

“When I read a blog, there is such a personal touch to it. Fan fiction is another wonderful new genre. The best selling Fifty Shades of Grey began as Twilight fan fiction,” said Chauhan. She too has the charisma to inspire hysteria among fans. English student of Magadh Mahila College, Kiran Singh, 19, who managed to get a photograph with the writer, was so excited that she could barely stop laughing.

Chauhan advised young writers: “Finish your novel, and you have a very good chance of getting it published.”

The prosperity of contemporary Indian writing in English is, however, no guarantee that the task of writing for youths has become easier. “I need to talk to young people continuously to know what they would like to read,” said Subhadra Sen Gupta, the author of books such as The Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Cook and Let’s Go Time Travelling.

She conducted a workshop, “Growing Up in a Violent World”, with school students today. “Children learn violence from adults. Then they take it out on people who are weaker than them,” she said.