“Children’s books in particular need to work both in small clusters as well as a whole, funny, imaginative and adventurous”- Shobhita Narayan (Author, Kritika Kahawat 01#: The Last Dragon Of Kuruk)
2 min read
Team Kitaab is in conversation with author Shobhita Narayan, author of Kritika Kahawat 01#: The Last Dragon Of Kuruk (Scholastic India, 2026)
Shobhita Narayan is a writer and marketer. She was the runner-up for the Reader’s Digest 100-word short story award and her debut book of fantasy children’s short stories, Midaash & Maitreyi’s Magical Mayhem, won the PVLF Best Children’s Author Award 2025.
Her short fiction has also been published in Bangalore Literature Review, Tassavvur, and Westland Books’ inaugural speculative fiction anthology Between Worlds. Shobhita enjoys anime, K-dramas, science and fantasy shows, and occasionally plays Pokémon Go. She likes both cats and dogs but wants to be on the good side of cats when they take over the world.
About the Book:
For fourteen-year-old Kritika Kahawat, dragons have always been an integral part of the stories passed down through her family of storytellers. But when the threat of Darkini attacks begins to grow stronger, Kritika is pulled into a world of hidden truths, ancient magic, and rising danger.
With her best friend Ato and mischievous cat Maashu never far away, Kritika must uncover the secrets behind the stories she once believed were only legends and find the courage to face what lies ahead. Thrilling, magical, and rooted in Indian storytelling, Kritika Kahawat and the Last Dragon of Kuruk is a captivating tale of bravery, friendship, and the return of dragons.
Team Kitaab: Stories are at the heart of Kritika’s family. Was there someone in your own life who first made you believe stories could be magical?
Shobhita Narayan: My grandfather was a voracious reader and I picked up independent reading from a very young age from him, borrowing storybooks on my own and my classmates’ library cards. At home, my grandfather would read a lot of classics like Dickens and Tolstoy but it was always enlightening to discuss books with him. We had our own different interpretations on what we read, differing in age and life experience. He used to have stacks of Readers Digest magazines that I used to devour. I discovered fantasy much later but somewhere along the way, I learnt that words meant so much to those who read. So, that was perhaps my starting point for Kritika Kahawat and a lot of my other works. It is also perhaps another reason why some of my stories feature grandparents, an intergenerationality that I feel is so commonplace in Indian households.
