So often, I come across posts that talk about how lit fests are a waste of time for authors, and how lit fests exclude rather than include. For me, though, lit fests remain unadulterated fun. Does this have something to do with being a children's writer, perhaps? The Lit Bug Fest, Pune's own lit fest, is in its fourth year, and I have been involved with it for the last three years. I love everything about it - the anticipation, the fest itself, and then, the high I'm left with for a few days after. Writing about the day helps me relive it and remember. Here are my posts about the fest last year and the year before that: The Lit Bug Fest 2017The Lit Bug Fest 2018 What I did this year: A Marathi Play My day began with a Marathi play presented by students from classes V and VI. Honestly, when I sat down to watch, I did not expect to enjoy it much. It was a school … [Read more...]
Explore the Prophecy of Rasphora
Last month, The Story Station invited me to interact with a group of young writers. I spoke about my journey as a writer and conducted an activity based on my latest middle-grade novel, The Prophecy of Rasphora. A little about the book ... Three young girls stumble upon Rasphora, a land behind a waterfall. There, they begin to teach Rasphorans the languages they know, and slowly, they pick up the Rasphoran language and are soon speaking like natives. Where the story led ... When Vaishali, founder of the Story Station, told me that the theme of this year's Lit Bug Fest would be language, things clicked into place instantly. My focus, through Rasphora, is language, and the activities I conduct around it are all based on language. In many ways, language is central to the story - ideas are lost because of a dying language, and language becomes a pathway to a new … [Read more...]
Pen to Paper Creative Writing Workshop
The Pen to Paper competition was a nationwide search for young writers, organised by Edupeer and ICICI Lombard. It received about 10,000 entries! These were narrowed down to 2,000 and 1,000 and then, finally, the top 150 writers from all over the country were selected to receive training from an author. When FunOKPlease contacted me to ask whether I would be willing to facilitate the Pune chapter of the workshop, I hesitated. I don't usually work with non-fiction; I find fiction more engaging, more fun. Yet, I was intrigued. I do enjoy workshops with children who don't yet know one another. When people get to know one another through the course of an afternoon, it's exciting! And this workshop was no different. Eleven teenagers got together and shared stories. We spoke of pranks, humour, mystery and poetry. We asked ourselves crucial questions: What is the purpose of art? … [Read more...]
One
Every so often, you come across a book that brings life around you to a standstill. It makes you stop and feel more than you think you are capable of feeling. It makes you hug yourself and breathe, so that you don't get lost in the raw beauty of human emotion. And as I live in the pages of a book like One, I find myself wondering, How can anyone write so beautifully? One is among the most moving books I've ever read. Twice, I was able to sniff and move on. Once, I had to put the book away and let myself cry before I got back to reading. Tippi and Grace are conjoined twins. They are privy to every detail of each other's life, joined in blood and bone. They are both two and one, and this creates a bond that no one else can dream of sharing. They hold each other up, hooking their arms around each other's waists, waking up to each other's nightmares, and … [Read more...]
Hell and High Water
Recently, I wrote about rereading The Goldsmith's Daughter by Tanya Landman and looking out for more books by her. I almost didn't pick up Hell and High Water because the cover did not catch my eye. Only when I noticed the name of the writer did I pick up the book--and I'm so glad I did. Hell and High Water was just as good as Apache and The Goldsmith's Daughter. It is told from the point of view of a "darkie" Caleb, a boy of mixed race. When Caleb's Pa is transported as a convict for a crime he did not commit, Caleb learns of the existence of his aunt Anne, who Pa is sure will help him. The fifteen-year-old boy finds his aunt but is soon drawn into a wicked world where the wealthiest of criminals perform heinous deeds without being punished, while the poorest suffer for the slightest of crimes. Along with his aunt's … [Read more...]
What if …?
I love 'what ifs'. What if there's another me on the other side of the mirror?What if a half-boy-half-deer wanted to fit in?What if someone experimented with smells and could create them?What if an old Bajaj scooter began to fly? These were some of the what-ifs that inspired the stories in The Story-Catcher. What-ifs can go anywhere. We don't need to rein them in and pull them back. And so, during creative writing workshops, I love to see where they can take us. Here's what a few children came up with yesterday. I love 'What if all my what ifs came true'! What's your favourite? The children then went on to write poems called 'What if', which were delightful. They played with opposites and humour, as well as beauty. What if a boy could become a girl? What if a speck of dust was as precious as a pearl? Aren't ideas magical? What's next? The Lit Bug Fest, … [Read more...]
The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare
I took a while to sink my teeth into The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare. I went slowly through the first few chapters: I found the narrative voice a little puzzling, and I could not figure out whether I liked the protagonist, Auden Dare. Once I got sucked into the book, though, it was a different story. The cover asks whether a friendship can save a world under threat - and the way Zillah Bethell deals with this idea is tender and moving, for the friendship is a most irregular one. A dystopian novel, The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare is set at a time when a war is being waged over the most precious commodity in the world - water. A country like the UK is slightly better off because it is surrounded by the sea, and though the water needs to be desalinated before being fit for consumption, there is access to it. … [Read more...]
The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day
As I read The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day, I realised yet again that Christopher Edge is a writer I want to look out for. The first book I read of his was probably Twelve Minutes to Midnight. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up buying two copies of it - one to keep and one to gift. Somehow, the sequel, Shadows of the Silver Screen, did not make such a powerful impression on me. I liked it, but I can barely remember it now - in my defence, I read it five years ago. Then, I read The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, which I loved. It was unlike anything I'd ever read before and I was drawn into Albie's world - a world of science that has at its core not just human curiosity but something even more deep-rooted than that - love. If I had read The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day … [Read more...]
The Bubble Boy
I had just started reading The Bubble Boy, when I came across an article on 'sick-lit', which made me think. There really are a lot of books about children who are ill, but I'd never thought about it in that way. And yes, the idea of the dying girl redeeming a broken man would irritate me. As a result, I was unfairly wary when I got through the first few chapters of The Bubble Boy. I didn't want the emotional manipulation that plays out like a formula in literature where someone may die, and I was more than a little sceptical. But I said 'unfairly' because The Bubble Boy is nothing like that. For one, it is not YA - the protagonist, Joe, is an eleven-year-old, who is called bubble boy because he is stuck in a bubble - a sterilised, temperature-controlled, heavily monitored hospital room. He has severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), and cannot ever leave his sanitised room. His … [Read more...]
On Rereading
As a child, I thought rereading books was a H*U*G*E waste of time. I devoured books, especially Enid Blytons, and later, Roald Dahls. I read the odd Richmal Crompton, went on to the classics - loved Five Children and It, pushed myself through others, left still others incomplete. But one thing I rarely did was reread. I did not have the time. Too many books, too little time, I kept telling myself. Then, at some stage, I realised that reading was not really a race. It was okay if I did not read every single good book in the world. At times, the comfort of a well-loved book was preferable to a foray into unknown territory, so I reread my Malory Towers and my Roald Dahls. I was growing older, so I read and reread Georgette Heyer and Mary Stewart and Dick Francis and Madeleine Brent. And eventually, I made my peace with "wasting" time rereading books I loved. Now, rereading a … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- …
- 146
- Next Page »