{"id":10263,"date":"2022-02-02T13:07:21","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T07:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/?post_type=story&p=10263"},"modified":"2025-08-21T11:06:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T05:36:17","slug":"youngest-writer-of-assam-awardee-riyad-maroof-hassan","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/youngest-writer-of-assam-awardee-riyad-maroof-hassan\/","title":{"rendered":"Youngest Writer of Assam awardee Riyad Maroof Hassan connects through storytelling, podcasts & poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

(February 2, 2022)<\/strong> At just eight, he dreamt about a ship braving a sea storm, and startled by its intensity, he woke up. Curiosity kept him anchored to this lucid dream. Unable to find an answer, he started visualising. \u201cIt was a turning point in my life when I realised that I have the ability to weave stories,\u201d this youngest writer Riyad Maroof Hassan tells Global Indian<\/em><\/a>. Two years after this watershed moment, the boy from Dibrugarh became the Youngest Writer of Assam when he published his debut book at age 10.<\/p>\n

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“In 2019, I won the award for my debut book. It has been such a source of inspiration.”\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0– Riyad Maroof Hassan<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

An author, essayist, talk show host, podcaster, and poet, Riyad is a jack of all trades. \u201cThere is much to learn and do – I use every opportunity to evolve and make the world a better place,\u201d says the 13-year-old who has dabbled in various mediums, and is keen to expand his horizons.<\/p>\n

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Creative spurts as a toddler<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Born to a government teacher-mother and an AIR announcer father in Dibrugarh in 2008, this youngest writer became interested in writing at five but it wasn\u2019t till he was eight that he began weaving stories. \u201cWhile I was always attracted to books, my grammar wasn\u2019t on point. After some scolding from my parents and teachers, I decided to pull up my socks,\u201d giggles the 13-year-old. It was that vivid dream which helped him sail towards story-writing. \u201cI saw a sailor on a ship in a storm. It was real, dangerous and then I awakened. The urge to finish the dream kept nagging at me. So, I decided to complete the story by visualising it. It\u2019s a gift for any author to connect the thoughts between a writer and a reader,\u201d adds the Shiksha Valley School student.<\/p>\n

Within two years, his first book How We Become Magnificent<\/em>, a fantasy adventure was published. He won the Youngest Writer of Assam Award at age 10 for it. \u201cIn 2019, I won the award for my debut book. It has been such a source of inspiration,\u201d says Riyad.<\/p>\n

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His debut piqued his interest in Indian English literature. Soon, he began researching. Enchanted by the work of Indian writers, the boy from Dibrugarh founded Literature on Screen, a virtual literature organisation to spread awareness. He realised that not much is known about desi<\/em> literature, and took it upon himself to spread the word on the internet (2019). \u201cIt dawned upon me that in this age of evolution, technology is the key, and we need to connect more readers with Indian English literature through tech,\u201d explains the young writer who created a Facebook page which has over 1,000 readers. \u201cWe share stories, articles, and poems and conduct discussions,\u201d adds Riyad.<\/p>\n

When story writing became a passion\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Words – a story or poem fascinated him. \u201cI was pulled into the world of poetry at six when I started reading Rudyard Kipling\u2019s poems. The poetic way of describing emotions and situations made me fall in love,\u201d pipes Riyad, who started writing poems at age nine. A year after winning the award, he published his first poem The Silhouette of Reality<\/em> in 2020 in the Indian Periodical<\/em>. \u201cIt was republished on Kavishala, a platform for young poets,\u201d adds Riyad, an admirer of Robert Frost and William Wordsworth.<\/p>\n

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While the world was coming to terms with the pandemic, Riyad found it the perfect opportunity to engage with creative folk through storytelling sessions with Karadi Tales, an independent publishing house that primarily focuses on audiobooks. \u201cThose sessions helped me understand the visual and audio power of storytelling. It gave me the idea to start the world\u2019s first-ever written interview on YouTube,\u201d says the Class 8 student who started media company the Clippers in 2020. \u201cI wasn\u2019t too confident about doing a video interview, so I decided to learn how to convert a written interview into a video on YouTube. It took me two days to convert the text into slides. I was able to create history,\u201d beams Riyad with pride who believes that \u201cnecessity is the mother of invention.\u201d<\/p>\n

A journey to words<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Soon he started connecting with the creative field for interviews, and in 2021, he began A Sketch of The Sky<\/em>, a podcast streaming on Spotify, Apple iTunes, and Amazon Gaana. \u201cI needed to connect to people and what better way than a podcast,\u201d adds Hassan, who calls it an enriching experience \u2013 with 15 episodes in season one.<\/p>\n

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