Jalandhar : The best selling (and much controversial) author Rahul Saini, along with Penguin Random House is running a short story writing contest. Entries are invited from various sources (schools, colleges and bookstores customers) in Jalandhar. This pan India event would mark it’s beginning from the author home town – Jalandhar that he is deeply attached to.

‘Rahul Saini’s short story writing contest’ aims at encouraging reading and writing habits in India and to support the local, off line bookstores. “Bookstores have a charm to them. It’s a pity that the young generation is missing out on the experience – it’s got something magical to it.” is what the author believes in. “Reading is spending time with our self, it helps us to know our self better, makes our self more aware about our thoughts and I think that is very crucial if we want to lead a happier and more satisfying life. Rahul would visit various schools and colleges personally to interact interact with the students and enlighten then about the career opportunities in the publishing industry and writing. His idea is to encourage students to pay attention to everything around them and think more clearly and logically and take better decisions.

In this 2 weeks contest the students will submit their self written short stories to manually or electronically. One winners, chosen on the merit of their writing skill would get a chance to get their story aired and read out on the radio by a popular RJ of the city along with a bunch of other prizes.

Rahul Saini’s new book Just for You has just hit the market. Other well acclaimed books authored by him are Those small Lil’ Things, Just like in the Movies, The Orange Hangover and most recently Paperback Dreams which created a lot of buzz and raised many questions about the current scenario of the publishing industry in India. His books always strive to keep strong comic tones and present the up-beat stories that portray the fun loving, free spirited and the outgoing character of today’s youth. Apart from being light entertainers, his books carry relevant social messages as well.

As a trained architect, apart from being a novelist, he is a keen photography, traveler and painter. He firmly believes that in today’s world hardly anybody should be allowed to get type-casted with a single and sole professional horizon, the youth should be allowed to explore.

The contest is on from 15th September. The closing date for the entries would be 22nd September. The winners would be announced on the 25th of September 2014.