Growing Up by Sudha Murty Releases

nisha.singh@harpercollins.co.in | 8 December 2022

announces the release of

the third and final book in

The Gopi Diaries

‘Yes, Gopi Murty, your Ajji is right…

you are anybody’s Prince Charming.’

Talking about Growing Up, Mrs. Sudha Murty says, ‘My dear Gopi has grown up now. He is young and handsome…In Growing Up he learns swimming, meets many friends, learns to socialize and at last falls in love. Soon, Ajji will be a great-grand mother.’

Illustrator Sandhya Prabhat says, ‘It has been an honour to capture Gopi’s character from puppyhood to adulthood to fatherhood, through the three books. As Gopi has grown, so have I, and so have his ardent readers. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the barrage of fan-mail that we get from young fans of Gopi over the last few years, and have loved that they have felt inspired to draw their own versions. Mrs. Murty’s storytelling is so full of cheer, humour and relatability, and I hope my illustrations have been able to do her characters justice.’

Award-winning author Paro Anand says, ‘We grew with little Gopi. We grew to love Gopi. We grew to know him like a family loves their beloved doggo. And now we get to step into his now not so little paws and get into the hearts and minds of a family that could be our very own. If you’re a doggy person, you know what this is like. And if you’re not a doggy person, after reading this heartwarming trilogy, you’re sure to become one.’

Tina Narang, Publisher – HarperCollins Children’s Books adds, ‘Publishing the Gopi Diaries series has been an extraordinary experience. It isn’t often that a dog becomes a celebrity over the course of a book series. From the little pup of the first book to the mischievous one of the second and the grown up one of the third, Sudha Murty’s beloved Gopi has become a favourite dog character for countless readers of all ages. And at the heart of each book in the series is Mrs Murty’s endearing and heartwarming storytelling. We hope Gopi’s fans will enjoy these stories just as much as we have delighted in publishing them.’

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The Gopi Diaries: Growing Up

will be launched in association with Pathways School and Kool Skool in Gurgaon on December 15, 2022

and in association with Sapna Bookstore in Bangalore on December 17, 2022

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About the book

The little pup of Coming Home and the stronger, bigger, more mischievous Gopi of Finding Love grows up in the third book and has new adventures, new interests, a new dog-person in his life—the charming Nova—and brings a new family into the world. He’s also wiser – ‘I learnt a great lesson, which I want to teach my children. Loyalty to our humans brings happiness and peace into our lives.’

This third book brings to a close the endearing and heartwarming Gopi Diaries series—a series that has generated innumerable fans across ages.

Written in Sudha Murty’s inimitable style, these simple stories told from a dog’s perspective show us just why pets are so precious – for their love, devotion and boundless affection.

About the author

Sudha Murty was born in 1950 in Shiggaon, north Karnataka. She did her MTech in computer science and is the chairperson of the Murty Foundation. A prolific writer in English and Kannada, she has written more than 30 books including novels, travelogues, technical books, collections of short stories and non-fiction pieces, and bestselling books for children. Her books have been translated into all major Indian languages. She has received nine honorary doctorates. Sudha Murty is the recipient of the R.K. Narayan Award for Literature (2006), the Padma Shri (2006), the Attimabbe Award from the Government of Karnataka for excellence in Kannada literature (2011), the Lifetime Achievement Award by Crossword Book Award (2018), and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence (2020).

About the illustrator

Sandhya Prabhat is an independent animator and illustrator from Chennai, India, now working out of California, USA. She holds a Master’s degree in Animation and Digital Arts from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and a Bachelor’s degree in Literature. She has illustrated for over 10 published children’s books. She also works on animation for TV and movies, and designs for social media platforms.