I read and review books all the time. A glance through my blog shows me that I've written over 300 posts about books! Though I didn't look through all of them before writing this post, I'm sure a majority of them are reviews of children's literature. I've written about fictional teachers, rereading old favourites, writers who have influenced me, and so much more. Last year, I did a series of top ten - picture books, books for young readers, books for middle-grade readers and YA books.This got me thinking. I don't read children's literature simply because I'm a children's writer. There's a lot more to it than that. Children's literature is magical, and I wanted to write about that magic. The Curious Reader was the perfect place to write an essay about it. Do give it a read: I enjoyed writing it!Read another essay of mine on TCR - The Problem with Monster Stereotypes in … [Read more...]
Catching Up: Writing
On the writing front, things are moving slowly, as usual. I have lots of things in the air, waiting to become either concrete or virtual. In their own time. Older books continue to bring me joy, though, in their own ways.The Prophecy of Rasphora - A New ReviewVery few things make me happier than a review of one of my books. At the Writers' Club yesterday, one of the students from my previous batch handed me this - my first child-review of The Prophecy of Rasphora.WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERSTranscriptionTitle:- The Prophecy of RasphoraAuthor:- Varsha SeshanPublisher:- Mango DC BooksIllustrator:- Lavanya KarthikThe Main Characters:- Afreen, Tara, Vandana, Miss (a dog), Avamel, Efferin, Safir, Terrine, Coutim, Anita, AnandThe Story is Set in:- Monkey Hill and RasphoraSynopsis of the Story:- This story is about 3 girls named Afreen, Tara and Vandana and … [Read more...]
Monsters and Stereotypes
I'm so happy with all the lovely responses I've been getting to my essay, "The Problem With Monster Stereotypes In Literature"! Thank you for the love. It's been ages since I wrote something remotely academic, so I was nervous about this piece.The writing of the essay started with all the monster posts I've been writing here on my blog, particularly after workshops I conduct with children and adults.How do we imagine monsters? What forms the bedrock of our imagination of monsters?With all my activities around the creation of monsters, it was time to take the idea further, examining why children so often create monsters that are fat, ugly, dark-skinned and male.The word count did not allow me to include everything I would have liked to, particularly as there are so many books that do try to create new kinds of monsters. One book that comes to mind featured in an earlier … [Read more...]
Catching Up – Writing
It's that time again, when I've postponed blogging for so long that I don't know where to begin. I keep saying that I intend to do monthly roundups and that never happens. I'm now planning to do a series of posts, catching up with what's gone by, though.In terms of writing, I'm working on multiple things, and that's a wonderful place to be. I just had a poem published by Scoop - a UK-based children's magazine that has published writers like Neil Gaiman, John Agard and Jacqueline Wilson. If I don't count the poems that were published when I was a child, this is my first poem to be published - the first of many, I hope!My poem is called "Making a Clone", and it's about two girls who come up with a wonderful plan - they'll make a clone out of ketchup and potato peels.I also had a travel story published by Inside Himalayas - the first bit of non-fiction in a while.My … [Read more...]
Reading, Writing, Dancing
Two weeks ago, I asked the children at my Writers' Club whether they would like to make readers laugh or cry. Three girls said they wanted to make readers laugh. 12 said they wanted to make readers cry. When a few said they would like to do both, those who had already raised their hands dithered.Finally, though, most agreed that making readers cry was more important. This was both surprising and not.Funny books that sparkle with humour are wonderful. Yet, I do know that the books that stay with me are books that make me cry. The best ones do both. I then asked the children what makes them cry in books.These were difficult conversations, by the way, and I was warmed by how much the girls opened up. A 12-year-old is not always comfortable talking about crying in front of a 9-year-old. The fact that they did - and passionately - was lovely.They spoke of happy moments … [Read more...]
A Wonderful Month
Every so often, I think about doing a monthly round-up of workshops I've conducted and books I've read. And then I think, maybe next month. But the month that went by was just so full of wonderful things that I want very much to share everything that happened and everything that's coming up!Last month, I was invited to a teachers' conference in Bengaluru. It was one of the most heart-warming events I conducted. I shared a few pictures already, but what made it special was how involved the teachers were. I conducted two sessions - one on reading and one on writing, and both were lovely!Then came the sessions I look forward to each month - my workshops at Just Books Baner. During the last session, we worked on magical stories, and played with lovely new ideas. Then came workshops with teachers at Universal High Malad, Sanjay Ghodawat International School (Kolhapur), … [Read more...]
Guru Mythili Raghavan
What makes Mythili Maami special? Why have so many of us been with her for two decades and longer? Why did we not leave the Academy of Indian Dances and set up on our own like so many other dancers?The answer lies in a story that each one of us is only too willing to share.My teacher has her stories too - of learning to dance and sing, of being chosen to say the prayers at school, of sitting on a train and hugging her bag all the way to Patna from Chennai ... She has stories about Kalakshetra and stories about Australia. She talks to us about her experiences with teachers like Gowri Pati, Pushpa Teacher and Jaya Teacher. Stories must find their way into a book some day - and this one took root when my father said that we must all write it. We took our time, but released it for Maami's 70th birthday. It's here, and I can't quite believe … [Read more...]
My Stamp
"My Stamp": the brand name for personalised postage stamps. Karan saw the ad outside the GPO, and guess what we got made?The only problem with using a book cover, rather than a passport sized picture of a person as advertised, is that we need a square image, not a rectangular one. Even though we had to crop the images quite a bit, how can I not be excited about these Duronto and Toy Train stamps? I can actually use them when I send letters (though I'm not yet convinced that I will!)!What I loved about the process of getting these made was that the person at the post office was lovely! He did not just make these for us; he wanted to learn how to crop and resize using paint! He was so happy with the stamps that he made me pose with them in front of the Madhubala stamp so that he could take a photograph. He even went out of the philately department and into the post office … [Read more...]
Flickering Flames
Last week, St. Mary's School officially launched Flickering Flames, an anthology of poems and stories I edited as the facilitator of the Writers' Club. The teachers have their copies already, and I've heard some lovely comments about the book.Here's a little about it for those who are reading about this for the first time ... In the academic year 2015-16, I started a Writers' Club at St. Mary's School, Pune. We began with nearly sixty girls, but as they discovered how much work goes into writing, they slowly dropped out. Finally, thirteen girls submitted work that was put together in an anthology. As it is the sesquicentennial year of the school, Dr Kinjal Goyal came forward to help us publish it, and now it's a book!Written entirely by children aged 11-13, Flickering Flames is a collection of all kinds of stories and poems - ranging from … [Read more...]
Reflections: Day Three at AFCC 2016
The last day of my first ever literary festival ...I began day three at the Asian Festival of Children's Content by attending a roundtable discussion on entering markets abroad, conducted by Cynthea Liu, Emily Lim, Helen Mangham. What was particularly wonderful about this event was the rounded perspective it had, as the speakers comprised one publisher, one writer and one literary agent. Author Emily Lim's words spoke to me the most, as she told us with her charming tinge of humour about how the key to getting a publisher, national or international, is a mixture of perseverance and patience. She spoke of standing on the sidelines at the festival at Bologna, looking pleadingly at publishers until one took pity on her ...Attending the session on Immersive Storytelling: Augmented Reality and Games to Engage Young Adults, conducted by Saad Chinoy and Nataly Rios Goico, was like … [Read more...]