HarperCollins acquires rights to South Asian themed children’s series
The Ash Mistry Chronicles, a new series by Sarwat Chadda, has been acquired by HarperCollins. The series centres around the adventures of Ashoka “Ash” Mistry—a 14-year-old British-Indian protagonist—and aims to retell the mythology of India.
“Everyone’s read the adventures of Hercules and Thor,” Chadda explains. “But the vast mythology and history of the Indian sub-continent has been strangely neglected in children’s fiction. Through Ash, a modern British-born Asian, I hope to immerse the reader in a world as magical and as thrilling as anything to come out of the more familiar Greek and Norse mythology. Heroes are heroes and we love them wherever they come from. It’s time we met some Indian ones.”
The first book, Ash Mistry and the Savage Palace, sees our hero being brought to India by his father to take up a dream job with the mysterious millionaire Lord Savage. Ash quickly begins to sense that the millionaire is not entirely benevolent, and soon finds himself embroiled in a fierce battle to stop Lord Savage’s heinous plan – opening the Iron Gates that have been keeping Ravana, the demon king, at bay.
Editorial Director at HarperCollins, Nick Lake, who won the hotly contested auction for the UK and Commonwealth rights to the three-book series, said:
“Ash Mistry is a brilliant, gripping read, with an action-packed plot that starts in top gear and stays there, while taking the reader on a mind-expanding journey into contemporary and mythological India.”
This news comes in the wake of a survey conducted by the DSC South Asian Literature Festival and the Bookseller, which revealed that there is a significantly large demand for children’s books with South Asian themes and characters, which is currently not being met.
The first book in the series is due to be launched in Spring 2012.
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