Ritwij – Youngest Indian to Write a French Novel!

We at, A Journalist Reveals, found a 16-year old, who has written a French novel! It is an epic fiction. The name of this teenager is Ritwij Shandilya. Would you believe that he learnt French from the internet? Let us find out more about the kid in this interview:

What inspired you to write this book?

Well, my father and grandfather both are authors. Father is an English author and grandfather writes in Hindi and Sanskrit.

To take this legacy forward, I decided to write this book which is an epic named La Couronne De Kanchipuram in French.

Why a French book?

Yeah, this is a regular question which I am asked.

Why a French book? And the answer to this is, first of all, French is my favorite language. Secondly, I always wanted to do something different.

And the main thing is that there are thousands of English writers in this country and as far as I   know, only five to six authors here, who write or have written in French.

Writing a French novel also helped me to register a world record of being the youngest Indian to perform such a feat, in Assist Book of World Records.

What kind of background do you have in French? Was it a subject you took in school?

No, French was not the subject which I took in school. And to be frank, in my school – French, German and Sanskrit was not there.

I learnt French from the internet and from some linguistic books and it took three months’ time to learn and a fortnight to write a novel.

What do you do other than writing books?

Other than writing books, I write blogs, I enjoy cricket, I travel the world and I read novels, as well. I’m a full-time author and part-time medical aspirant. Also, I am a student of class 11th.

Since when did you begin to write?

I began to write at the age of twelve. At that time, I used to write in Hindi.

But, I began to be a full-time author from class tenth after attending the Fiction Writing Workshop organized by Notion press in association with Sharath Komarraju.

I came to learn many things from Mr. Sharath, a successful author and that inspired me to jump in the field of fiction, in the field of literature.

Have you published any other books?

Yes, I have written a fiction writing guide named It’s All about Fiction and an English fiction named Brawl of Diligent.

What is the book all about?

As my novel is an epic fiction, Kanchipuram is just a place of my imagination. It is a fictional place, according to my book.

My book is all about love, war and betrayal. It is the story of a kingdom named Kanchipuram in the sixteenth century. The main characters are King Ayesha, Chief Anirudha, Queen Sarakshi and Revathi. For the rest, you can buy my book from all e-commerce websites of the world including Amazon, Flipkart and Google Play.

What is your mother tongue?

My mother tongue is Hindi because Patna, Bihar is my hometown and I live in the Taj City of Agra.

What are your future plans?

There are many. My next English novel The Rise Of Queen Revathi is in the publishing phase and it will be available soon in the market worldwide. After this, I’m going to bring the English version of my French novel La Couronne De Kanchipuram and it will be named The Crown of Kanchipuram. I’m also planning to write an inspirational tale and a love story.

And as far as studies are concerned, I’ll be continuing it side by side. My dream is to be a part of Oxford University, London.