You can be a poet too...

You can be a poet too... is Viraaj Vig’s third published book. It was also officially released in Braille in 2016 by National Association for The Blind (NAB), Mumbai at a function celebrating the birth anniversary of Louis Braille. The book launch was reported on India's national television news channel Doordarshan, DD News and covered by local press. It is a collection of 40 poems in two sets. Viraaj wrote the first set of 17 poems when he was thirteen and the second set of 23 poems (Poems for younger Children) was written when he was nine. Now at fifteen, he has compiled all his poetry, edited and written a note for each of the different types of poems like Haiku, Limerick, Ballad, Sonnet, Pantoum, describing their purpose and structure in order to inspire children to be creative and write their own poetry. The Braille version has been kept in NAB’s library. Viraaj has recently distributed copies to schools for visually impaired children across India and has conducted a very successful workshop, encouraging students to read and write. All proceeds from book sales go to charity.A Sunbird’s Adventure is Viraaj Vig’s second published book, which he wrote when he was ten years old. The inspiration for this book came when a sunbird visited his balcony and made a nest. It’s a daring story of a Sunbird who is gifted and accepts a challenge to serve the commu-nity. He does this with sheer grit and determination using his rare ability for the benefit of others. At age seven, Viraaj created endearing animation characters, Reader and his friends. He then wrote and illustrated many short stories about Reader to ‘make people happy’. Three action packed stories, Space Effect, The Amazing Racer and Lift-Off, about the adventures of Reader, Spot, Dan, Edward and Lizard were published in a collection entitled, Reader Blasts Off, which was Viraaj’s first published work. It is his hope that this book will bring moments of great joy to little children. Being moved by the dearth of children’s fictional books in Braille, he felt the urge to do something about it personally. He then arranged with the National Association for the Blind (NAB), to have his book Reader Blasts off printed in Braille. Subsequently, he recorded its’ entire text in a Talking Book/audio CD in his own voice at their center in Mumbai. Reader Blasts Off in Braille and the Talking Book/ audio CD is available in NAB’s library in Mumbai. Viraaj also arranged for A Sunbird’s Adventure to be printed in Braille by the National Association for the Blind two years ago. It has since been kept in their library. Further, Viraaj has regularly over the last six years, personally visited and gifted copies of his Braille books and Talking Book/ audio CD to organizations supporting visually impaired children in Mumbai, Bangalore, Singapore, Taipei, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Recently in 2015, he visited similar organizations in Boston, New York and London where he made presentations of his books and donated Braille copies and the Talking book/ audio CD to their libraries. His unique effort to bridge the gap in Braille fictional literature for children has to date, helped more than a 100 organizations globally, spread across 7 countries and 3 continents. They have his works as a resource for visually impaired children. When he was fourteen an interview of Viraaj along with one of his recent poems was published in the cover story of Whiteprint, India’s first lifestyle magazine for the Visually Impaired in a spe-cial Independence Day issue which celebrated his noteworthy contribution to the world of Visu-ally impaired children. The editor described Viraaj as”demonstrating the power of India”. Now fifteen, Viraaj continues in his endeavor to make people happy. He enjoys composing mu-sic, playing drums and piano. He loves playing tennis and badminton. He entertains others by performing card tricks too!