It was Delia Nadarajah’s love for reading since childhood which led her to embark on a writing career. Initially, it was about writing a few chapters of a story stopping halfway and throwing it away eventually. However, last year Delia published her first novel, Children of Ricon – The new recruits, a fascinating and inspiring story for children with all the ingredients needed to keep young readers engrossed.
When Delia first began working on Children of Ricon, it almost met the same fate as the her earlier writings, but this time she luckily kept what she had worked on, showed it to a few close friends a couple of years later and they persuaded her to continue with it.
“I wanted to write something for children which I hoped would not only entertain but also inspire and motivate them. The message I wanted to present is that regardless of background or beginnings, we are all capable of succeeding with our dreams whatever they might be and that through (self) belief, perseverance and commitment it is possible to overcome inevitable challenges to achieve these dreams,” Delia said in an e-mail interview with the Sunday Times.
Her parents are Sri Lankan born but Delia (30) was born in London and has lived there all her life. Having graduated with a BA (Hons) in Modern Languages, Delia taught English as a foreign language, but realising her true calling was to be a writer, she embarked on several short term jobs to sustain herself and found the drive and motivation to complete her first story. “I chose to follow my dreams rather than settle for the safer option.”
Her main reason to write a book for children was her little sister Tania who is 12 years younger than her. “She was about 12 years old when I first put pen to paper and then when I picked it up again two years later, she was at a crucial point in her schoollife and I too found myself at a crossroad in my life regarding my career options,” Delia said.
She also found inspiration for the book described as “classic warrior tale with a modern day twist” from a multitude of things including from certain television programmes, movies, events in the news etc. “The name of the book itself is taken from the name of one of our (the family) dogs, Rico and I named the 'baddie' after our other dog Tyler,” she added.
One of Delia’s favourite books is Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist', one of the world’s best selling books in recent times. “ The Alchemist can be interpreted in so many ways but fundamentally it has such a strong and positive message to its readers. I wanted to write something that I hoped would hold a similar message without preaching to kids,” she said.
Delia has managed to achieve just that with her maiden story and send out the message that it is possible to overcome inevitable challenges and achieve your dreams.
Delia Nadarajah can be contacted at info@childrenofricon.com. |
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