Shazaf Haider's 'A Firefly In The Dark' wins Children's Choice Award at Indian lit fest

Novelist Shazaf Haider's latest work A Firefly In The Dark has been awarded a literary prize by her young readers in India!

Organisers of Peek a Book Children Festival in Mumbai announced that the book has won their Children's Choice Award, which is judged by three readers in their early teens.

Other contenders for the prize were What Maya Saw by Shabnam Minwala, When Morning Comes by Arushi Raina and Year of the Weeds by Siddhartha Sarma.

A Firefly in the Dark, published in April last year, revolves around a young girl who lives with her grandmother after her father suffers an accident and mother suffers from depression. The novel has a supernatural element as the grandmother's fantastical stories turn out to be true.

"Very thrilled that children and pre-adults are liking Sharmeen and Jugnu and the stories of the Jinn," said Shazaf when she tweeted about her win.

A Firefly In The Dark is also being adapted into a web series by the Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio, which launched a production house in July last year and has been acquiring content to create original web series and short films for its telecom subscribers.