10 years ago Champak Chauhan left a successful career in education in order to pursue his passion for writing. Today he has three gripping crime thrillers under his belt, and more importantly, no regrets…
Since he was 13, Champak Chauhan wanted to write. He arrived in the UK from Kenya when he was 11 and grew up in the Highfields area of Leicester, where he studied hard and displayed an insatiable appetite for books.
Picture: Champak Chauhan
After going to university however, he went into teaching and eventually attained a senior position within the education sector.
“I went into teaching as I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. However, it meant that I never had time to write in the evenings. I was always writing school reports for Ofsted or I was planning or marking,” he tells Pukaar.
“Eventually when I was in my early 50s I thought ‘enough was enough’. If I don’t give up work I was never going to do it. So I took a brave and hardy decision to quit full-time work, and I never looked back…
“ I thoroughly enjoy the writer’s life and part of me wishes I’d have been doing this 20 years ago, but you can’t just give up the day job! ”
Over the past decade, Champak has been able to devote himself fully to his craft, writing between 5 and 6 hours a day.
In that time he has produced a trilogy of crime thrillers, which have proved popular with readers – especially here in Leicester.
The books; ‘The Dance of Death (2022), ‘Shattered Dreams’ (2023) and last year’s ‘The Right Time to Die’ are all set in the city he calls home.
The trilogy’s protagonist, DI Rohan Sharma, lives off Belgrave Road where much of the action takes place in Champak’s most recent offering. It offers a highly intriguing premise – the death of a Bollywood superstar during the Diwali lights switch on and an investigation which leads to a dark world of race hate and extremism…
His second book delves into the dark worlds of organised crime, corruption, sex work and human trafficking.
“I’ve always been drawn to crime fiction because it’s a good vehicle to talk about social issues in society,” explains the author.
“Some books feature things like homophobia, domestic violence and obviously racism, given the background of the protagonist and the things he experiences as a South Asian detective working within the constabulary.
“But they are not books which are solely about Asian people,” he adds. “The characters represent our society and the city as it is. Detective Sharma mixes a lot with white colleagues. His sergeant is a woman called Angie Deacon and they work very closely together. The pathologist is a muslim woman called Nazrim Kahn so it reflects the diverse community we all live in in Leicester…”
Champak is proud to set his books in Leicester – a vibrant city which is rarely featured in crime fiction. He recently took part in an event at St Barnabas Library, where readers were able to ask questions and talk about his work.
Getting feedback and getting to interact with readers is the real pay off of in his life as a writer he says.
“One of my readers said that Leicester comes across as a character in its own right. She said that my writing had brought the city to life in a way that she hadn’t read about before, and she could identify with the places and the history of the city, which was really good to hear.
“Another woman said she was reluctant to go into a certain area of the city after reading my books, because it was where one of the murders take place,” he revealed.
“I had to remind her that it’s just a work of fiction and not to get carried away!”
“It’s so rewarding talking to people because writing is quite a lonely occupation and quite intense. So when I’m not doing that it’s great to get out and talk to people,” adds Champak, whose publisher wants him to expand his gripping crime series.
“If it wasn’t for readers I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. It’s great to meet people who actually enjoy what it is you’re doing and highly rewarding. For me that’s the real pay off!”
To find out more, visit: www.saperebooks.com/authors/c-v-chauhan/
By Louise Steel
