Farah Oomerbhoy

Author of The Avalonia Chronicles

interview

Interview at 5 Girls Book Reviews

5 Girls Book Reviews

I’m honored to be on 5 Girls Book Reviews for an interview. Read the excerpt below and check out the full interview on 5 Girls Book Reviews.

1. Are you writing another book? If so, when do you think it would be published because I would love to review it for you as well. 

Thank you so much Michaela! I would love for you to review the next book, too. I have started writing book 2 of the series. I’m not entirely sure how long it will take, but I do hope to have something ready by next year. I do have a pretty good idea what is going to happen in book 2 but it always changes once I get halfway through the story, depending on the way the characters behave.

2. Where did you get your ideas/inspiration for The Last of the Firedrakes?

I started thinking about this book nearly ten years ago. Building the world of Avalonia, whenever I got time. The actual world creation started with a tapestry in my grandmother’s house. One day I stood before it and wondered, what if I could step into the tapestry, where would I end up? And so the world of Avalonia sprang into existence.

From then on, the person who stepped into the tapestry was a young 16-year-old girl who didn’t know who she really was, her name was Aurora, and this is her story.

3. What age did you begin writing?

I must have been in the sixth grade when I started writing poems. They were really quite bad, I then tried writing fiction, but I would never finish anything because of schoolwork. It was only after I finished studying that I started creating Avalonia and wrote my first book.

4. What age were you when your first piece of writing was published?

I was twelve when one of my poems was published in a local magazine.

Interview at Grazia

Grazia

I’m honored to be on Grazia for an interview. Read the excerpt below and check out the full interview on Grazia.

Farah Oomerbhoy author of the latest award winning novel ‘The Last of the Firedrakes’, also a part of Wattpad’s Collector’s Dream category, is all set to formally launch the book today at Le Mill Store, Colaba. She talks to Grazia about her ever-growing love for the world of fantasy and fiction and her road so far.

Grazia: Does the love for all things magical and fantasies stem from your childhood? Any significant memory growing up?

Farah Oomerbhoy: One of the first books I ever read was Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree series. Since then I was hooked and proceeded to devour anything fantastical that came my way. From the magical worlds of C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, to T. H. White’s A Once and Future King and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, Roald Dahl’s Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Diana Wynne Jones’ Magical Worlds, Lewis Caroll’s Wonderland books, Ursula le Guin’s Earthsea Quartet and J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan, have all in some way contributed towards my love for magical adventures and fantasy worlds inspiring me to write fantasy for young people.

Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness Quartet was very instrumental in the creation of my main character Aurora.

Full Interview on Grazia

Interview at Miranda’s Book Blog

Miranda's Book Blog

I’m honored to be on Miranda’s Book Blog for an interview. Read the excerpt below and check out the full interview on Miranda’s Book Blog.

What inspired you to write The Last of the Firedrakes?

Every reader at some point in their lives comes across a book that inspires them to think beyond the boundaries. For me that book was Harry Potter.

The wonderful world of Hogwarts and the magical beings that lived within it made me look at the world of magic in a completely different way. I had always loved reading fantasy stories, and Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings series; along with C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series were already my favorites. These books inspired me to write a story that would combine the best of the three, and so The Last of the Firedrakes started to take shape. I started thinking about this book nearly ten years ago. Building the world of Avalonia whenever I got time. The actual world creation started with a tapestry in my grandmother’s house. One day I stood before it and wondered, what if I could step into the tapestry? Where would I end up? And so the world of Avalonia sprang into existence.

From then on, the person who stepped into the tapestry was a young sixteen-year-old girl who didn’t know who she really was, her name was Aurora, and this is her story.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Nothing is impossible, and it is ultimately your choices in life, strength of character, and courage in the face of adversity, that will determine who you truly are.

I think Uncle Gabriel expresses this very well in the book, when he tells Aurora:

“When difficulties come, we must see them as what they are—opportunities and a new path to discover your potential. How will you ever know the magnitude of courage that you are capable of, if you have never experienced the hopelessness of fear?”
Full Interview on Miranda’s Book Blog