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Saudi Arabian girl becomes youngest person to publish a book series

By Sanj Atwal
Published

Magical adventures in fantasy worlds await two siblings, Natalya and Jame, in the Treasure of the Lost Sea book series, written by Ritaj Hussain Alhazmi (Saudi Arabia).

Aged 12 years 295 days when the second book was released, Ritaj has earned a Guinness World Records title as the youngest person to publish a book series (female). 📚

There are currently three books in the series:

  1. Treasure of the Lost Sea
  2. Portal of the Hidden World
  3. Beyond the Future World

Visiting libraries and reading adventure books have been Ritaj’s favourite hobbies since she was young. 📖

"I started writing at the age of six while I was accompanied by my family to study abroad," Ritaj said.

Ritaj published the first book of the series in 2019, when she was 11 years old.

Titled Treasure of the Lost Sea, it tells the story of two siblings who, upon discovering that they’re the guardians of a lost treasure, set off on a long adventure to unlock the secrets of their power. 💎

In the same year, Ritaj finished writing the sequel, titled Portal of the Hidden World. It was published on 1 November 2020, when she was 12 years 295 days old.

Ritaj qualified for the record of youngest person to publish a book series, but she didn’t plan on stopping there.

She wrote and published her third book, titled Beyond the Future World, and she is already working on the fourth book in the series, The Passage to the Unknown.

"I write for my fellow children community. I realized there aren’t many novels for this age group, so I decided to create a few of my own."

Ritaj was born in Dhahran, Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and is now aged 14. She can speak Arabic and English and she’s learning Japanese. 😀

She was inspired by the writing style of J.K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter series) and Joanne Rendell, who writes fantasy stories.

Ritaj hopes her books will inspire other young authors around the world. 🤩

"Being a Guinness World Records holder is a big achievement that I want to share with young writers. I want to motivate and encourage young writers to take challenges and face obstacles."

Did you know?
Bella J Dark is the world’s youngest person to publish a book (female). Her book The Lost Cat was published when she was just 5 years 211 days old.