A BEST-SELLING author is visiting Halstead as part of a countywide festival.

Vaseem Khan, author of the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series, is holding a talk at Halstead Library on Bridge Street as part of the Essex Book Festival, which runs across the county until the end of the month.

Vaseem will be taking readers on a journey from the days of the Raj to the heart of modern India, a colourful and conflicted environment of vast new wealth and historical problems.

During his talk Vaseem will explore the background to his Baby Ganesh Detective Agency novels, looking at the realities of life in a country being transformed by unprecedented global change.

The series features Indian detective Ashwin Chopra and his baby elephant sidekick.

The first book in the series, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was a Times bestseller and a Waterstones Paperback of the Year, with the second bagging the writer the American Shamus Award.

Last year he was awarded the Eastern Eye Arts, Culture and Theatre Award for Literature.

Vaseem’s inspiration for his novels came from his first sighting of an elephant in 1997 in Mumbai.

He said being a part of the Essex Book Festival feels like coming home.

“I grew up in East London, went to school in Upminster, Essex, and ever since I was a boy have played cricket in the summer all over the beautiful Essex countryside,” he said.

“I am delighted to be speaking at the Essex Book Festival, especially as the talk will take place in Halstead Library.

“When I was growing up there was little money to buy books in my house and so libraries helped fuel my love of reading. Without them I wouldn’t be an author today.

“My talk will take readers on a journey through time, from ancient India, through the days of the Raj and the Mughals, to modern day Mumbai, a city being transformed by the twin forces of globalisation and westernisation.”

For tickets, contact the box office on 01206 573948 or visit essexbookfestival.org.uk.

Tickets cost £7 for adults or £5 for those under-27s.