Good ol’ Vernon
Photograph: Rajib De Mathures Paul meets a 71-year-old author of books for children, teenagers and young adults who has even tried his hand at ‘sexy stories’ told with humour Ever wanted to meet Enid Blyton, Richmal Crompton or Frank Richards? Well, dreams sometimes have this uncanny knack of coming true and someone equally talented lives just around the corner, so to speak, in Kolkata. Vernon Thomas likes to travel in schoolbags. This 71-year-old author of 118 titles for children, teenagers and young adults, not to forget the 250 adult stories he’s published in leading journals in India, England, South Africa, Scotland and Italy, is, in popular parlance, “still good to go”. If you’re wondering why you never heard of him all these years, you’re forgiven. For like he says, “I took up writing in 1967. Between 1968 and 1980, around 100 stories were published in the Teenager, a magazine edited by Father Mark Fonseca. He is my guru, my mentor and when he left the magazine he introduced me ...