A Book I Wrote: Eight Years of Nurturing Young Writers at the Nehru Centre Library

Every Child Has a Story to Tell

Picture a child holding a book. She points at a page and says, “That’s mine. I wrote that.” This is what 'A Book I Wrote' is all about. It is an annual initiative of the Nehru Centre Library, created in collaboration with MomSays. This year it turns eight!

Through ‘A Book I Wrote’, the Nehru Centre Library in Mumbai, has been encouraging children to express their thoughts, ideas, and creativity through short stories and poems since 2017. Now in its eighth edition, the initiative continues to celebrate the joy of storytelling and seeing one’s words in print.

From Young Writers to Published Authors

Launched in 2017 in collaboration with MomSays, the ‘A Book I Wrote’ initiative started as an inter-school writing competition held by the Nehru Centre Library for children aged 6 to 11 years. The winning poems and stories are brought together in a specially designed and illustrated book, giving young participants an opportunity to experience the joy of being published authors.

For a child, seeing their own words in a book is more than a moment of pride. It is an encouragement to keep writing, explore new ideas, imagine new worlds, and recognize the value of their own creativity. By turning a writing competition into a published work, the initiative makes creativity memorable.

Seven Editions, Countless Memories

Since its beginning, the initiative has had seven editions. It was published in 2017, 2018, and 2019. After a brief hiatus, it returned in 2022 and has been published every year since.

Each edition has brought together the imagination of young writers and the artistic vision of illustrators, giving every book a distinctive character. The illustrations have evolved through a delightful variety of styles.

The 2017 edition featured origami-inspired artwork by Kamakshi Shirodkar, recalling the paper airplanes, boats, and boxes of childhood memories. In 2018, Alisha Huang’s soft watercolors brought a fresh and gentle quality to the book, while Prem Sonar’s 2019 illustrations combined brush pens, crayons, poster colors, and sketch pens in a playful celebration of mixed-media art.

 

The initiative returned in 2022 with Charitra Vagal’s colorful and expressive illustrations, which remind us of children’s oil pastel drawings. Kamakshi Shirodkar brought the vibrancy of crayons and rich colors to the 2023 edition, followed by Niloufer Wadia’s colorful digital illustrations in 2024. In 2025, Lavanya Karthik combined traditional line art and textures with digital color to capture the theme of happy moments.

Together, these editions demonstrate how illustration can enrich children's writing, allowing words and images to work together to create a world of their own

Writing with a Purpose

Each edition has explored a particular theme, encouraging children to look beyond their immediate experiences and reflect on the world around them. From 2017 to 2019, the theme for children falling in the age group 6-8 years was ‘Nature’ and those in the age group 9-11 years was ‘Fantasy’.

The 2022 edition explored the ‘United Nations Sustainable Development Goals’, inviting young writers to engage with important issues affecting life on Earth. In 2023, the theme shifted to the ‘Festivals of India’, celebrating the country's cultural diversity and the traditions that bring families and communities together.

The 2024 edition focused on ‘Gratitude: Fostering Stronger Relationships’, encouraging children to express appreciation for the people and elements of nature that enrich their lives. In 2025, the theme of ‘Happiness’ invited them to reflect on the simple joys of everyday life, from spending time with friends and pets to enjoying their favorite treats.

This year’s theme, ‘Things that I never want to change/Things that should never change’, explores what children would love to hold on to in a world witnessing a rapid transformation in various fields such as AI and robotics.

The themes offer children an opportunity to explore meaningful ideas through their own experiences and perspectives. They also demonstrate how writing can nurture observation, empathy, cooperation and an awareness of the world beyond oneself.

A Creative Partnership

The initiative is made possible through the collaboration between the Nehru Centre Library and MomSays, a children's storytelling platform that brings together parents, educationists and authors. While the library provides a platform for young writers through its inter-school competition, MomSays contributes to the books' distinctive visual identities through its illustrators and designers.

This partnership brings together reading, writing, illustration, and publishing in a way that makes creative expression accessible and enjoyable for children.

More Than a Book

These days children often get information through many different formats and through digital platforms, a printed book offers a special experience. It provides the opportunity to hold a finished work and see one's ideas preserved on its pages.

For young writers, ‘A Book I Wrote’ is a reminder that their thoughts and imagination deserve to be heard. For parents and teachers, it highlights the importance of encouraging children to write not merely as an academic exercise, but as a means of self-expression and discovery. It encourages children to go beyond classroom essays and offers a creative outlet for young minds.

By bringing children's writing into the public view, the Nehru Centre Library helps to nurture an early connection with books, authorship and the written word.

Eight Editions and a World of Possibilities

As ‘A Book I Wrote’ enters its eighth edition in 2026, it continues a journey that began with a simple yet meaningful idea: every child has a poet in them and that every child has a story worth telling. Over the years, the initiative has celebrated young voices through themes, words, colors, and illustrations, thereby giving children the opportunity to see their creativity take the form of a book. 

With each new edition, the Nehru Centre Library renews its commitment to encouraging young readers and writers, reminding us that today's budding storytellers may become tomorrow’s author.