Sudha Murty speaks during the session at Sharjah Children's Reading Festival.

Celebrated author, educator and philanthropist Sudha Murty left a live audience of over 1,000 individuals of all age groups at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) captivated and craving for more just as her books do even at the age of 72.

In her session, titled 'Tales of Grandma,' on Friday, the author of 44 books (29 in English and 15 in Kannada), Murty acknowledged that she now releases one book a year.

Murty, awarded India’s highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan last month, regaled the audience with tales as a grandmother would.

Asked to choose a favourite among her published works, she said: “It is difficult to ask a mother to choose between her children, and my books are my children.”

Sudha Murty at the House of Wisdom.

Murty’s advice to the young audience is to develop hobbies. “It can be anything, even one is fine if you pursue it in all earnest without letting your studies get affected. In fact, the hobby will help you focus on your studies, while also helping you become a better person.”

To an interesting question about embracing technology through mediums such as podcasts to deliver her stories, Murty gave a revealing confession.

“I have always been comfortable just writing. Lately, I have been told that I need to look into new formats to share my stories. Podcasts are not for me. However, I recently requested my daughter to look into the possibility of audiobooks."

The author then visited the House of Wisdom (HoW), Sharjah’s iconic cultural centre and futuristic library, where she was introduced to the emirate’s efforts to promote culture, knowledge and innovation amongst the younger generation in the UAE and beyond.

She sifted through HoW’s exhaustive physical and digital archives and was briefed on the various programmes and initiatives led by HoW to stimulate imagination and boost cross-cultural understanding and exchange.

As part of her tour through HoW’s world-class facilities, Ms Murty stopped at the Little Reader section, where she was briefed on the events and workshops that are designed exclusively for children in order to develop their skills in a variety of areas. She also reviewed the wide-ranging collection of children and young adult titles in English, Arabic and other languages.