Saudi Arabia: At 12, she is the world’s youngest novelist

Ritak Al-Hamzi discovered the literary world at a very young age. And it was between fantasy and fiction that his taste for writing developed. “From the day I laid my eyes on reading, I discovered what I wanted to be when I was a little older. I wanted to connect with the world by reading, writing, sharing ideas, views and opinions” she told to Arab News.

His first book of fiction, Treasure of the Lost Sea, had one goal: to inspire readers to follow their dreams. After initial negative feedback from his publisher, extensive learning about writing, and rewriting his first draft, Al-Hazmi finally completed his first book, garnering great success with young Saudi readers in the process.

In the same year, she also began writing her third book. While Al-Hazmi changed the title of her work several times during the writing process, it is finally under the name Beyond the Future World  that she will publish it. 

Beyond writing, the novelist decided to organize her own workshop in order to pass on her literary knowledge to all those willing to learn. “After preparing and presenting the workshop, I was amazed to see all these kids motivated to learn” she said. “One of the most important things to do after learning is to teach others what you know, remember what you learned and why you decided to do it“

A bright future in the literary world for this young novelist!