Former teacher, Uttra Gurdayal, found her passion for writing after her retirement.

The 66-year-old author shared her passion for writing yesterday and spoke on how she started her career after taking part in radio competitions.

Mrs Gurdayal said: “When on Radio Fiji Two, there were would be a few story writing competitions for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day I would participate and would always win a prize for it, which had motivated me to write more.

“I always got feedback from people who asked, why don’t I write for a paper? So my audience could take their time and read as they loved to hear my stories and poems on radio.

“I started writing for Shanti Dut and I wrote about many things like draught, the different festivals we have in Fiji and many other stories that have a lot of impact in our society,” she said.

“My articles would be in the Shanti Dut after every two weeks and that inspired me. I used to get feedbacks on the topics to write on and people would encourage me to write more.”

Mrs Gurdayal believes writing a story could help bring understanding among people and change society for the better. This is why she writes her stories on parents and children, draught and festivals.

Her short stories book, ‘Falsafa Pyar Ka’, is her second book thus far. Her first book ‘Mahek’, was launched last month.

Mrs Gurdayal said: “My husband has always supported me in writing my book and I have the most loving children who have supported me and are always there to be my audience after I write a story.

“My children would always sit around me and listen when I read to them the stories I have written and they would always have a discussion afterwards regarding the book which would help me.”

Mr Gurdayal has written two more books which she plans to publish soon.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

Feedback: jessica.gounder@fijisun.com.fj