Aditya Sudarshan (pictured), a 2007 batch graduate of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) has authored his second book, ‘Show Me A Hero’. Aditya who worked with criminal lawyer Siddharth Agarwal is releasing his second book in Delhi today.

Aditya speaking to Bar & Bench said, “I have been interested in writing since law school days and during initial years I had published several short stories. However in my final year I managed to write my first book ‘A Nice Quiet Holiday’. I did borrow from my experiences in the legal world as it was a murder mystery”.

“The response for the first book was good and I received a lot of feedback from my readers. The first book had a small scale launch and therefore in terms of sales the first book gross was average” he added. 

Aditya started his second book while he was first book was being published. ‘Show Me A Hero’ is a book about a group of youngsters who are trying to make a movie on this controversial cricketer. “There is a crime fiction element in the book and overall it’s about coming of age of these youngsters,” said Aditya.

Aditya has quit practicing and is focusing on his writing. Speaking on whether it was difficult to get a publisher to support a young writer he said, “Its not easy at all and there is no certainty of the process. Although this was my second novel, it was not easy to get it published. It had to persist for a long time and had to go through various rejections”.

“The market is not developed for a writer in India. In a more developed books market, an agent helps writers in getting in touch with the publishers and pushing the process. In India there hardly two or three agents who are known. Therefore publishers play it safe and source foreign books. Anyways, most of the publishers are multinational and to do well they need not tap into the high quality local writing”.

Aditya plans to focus on writing fiction and non-law related fiction too. Aditya says “legal education is one of the better subjects for someone who aspires to be a writer since you learn a lot about structure and clarity of thought and also there is no formal training for a writer”.

‘Show Me A Hero’ is being published by Rupa & Co.