At the Neev Literature Festival 2023, I watched Menaka Raman conduct a session on character development, and I knew I wanted to invite her to my writing programme. She did […]
The ABCs of Blogging
Multiple award-winning blogger Anupama Dalmia is conducting a blogging workshop for us!
Discover how to create a blog, write engaging content, and connect with your readers through your own empowering digital space. This workshop will introduce blogging and the current industry scenario. Working with something I often stress during workshops, it will also touch upon audience, structure, content and more.
How to Tell a Story through a Diary
Playing with form is always fun! There are so many ways to tell a story–as a graphic novel (which was the topic of our previous workshop), in verse (like Uncontrollable), or as a set of letters, either in a diary or to a friend. I love epistolary novels, but writing a story in the form of letters is something I haven’t really dealt with at my writing programmes.
That’s why I decided to invite Sowmya Rajendran, author of the Mayil series to do a creative writing workshop with us on telling stories through a diary. How do we use diary entries to tell a story? There is a method to the randomness!
Stories: Comic-Page Style
We’ve done a workshop on comics before, but it’s time for something new, this time with author Nandita Basu. Nandita is an award winning graphic novelist and a musician. She has written three graphic novels for young adults: The Piano, Rain Must Fall and the soon to be released Starry Starry Night.
Graphic novels are gaining popularity amongst young readers, and naturally, young writers. While writing a graphic novel is, of course, beyond the scope of a one-hour workshop, let’s learn how to weave a story through words and pictures in the style of a graphic novel.
Art, Music and Movement with Veda Aggarwal
Yes. Each time I invite a guest to speak to my creative writing programme, I realise that the session is as much for me as it is for the children. […]
Art, Music and Movement – A Creative Writing Workshop
This creative writing workshop on art, music and movement takes a unique look at the ways in which different disciplines and inspirations come together when we write.
What do you think? Does the way we move our bodies affect our creative process? Does the art we look at and the music we listen to impact the way we think?
Although this workshop is free for those who are part of my current creative writing programmes, it is also open to non-participants on payment of a fee.
It will be conducted by Veda Aggarwal, a performance art curator and yoga practitioner.
Staging a Script
The next writing workshop is here! It will be conducted by Lav Kanoi – actor and musician, writer and translator, anthropologist and academic. Lav is currently doing his PhD at Yale. He is an experienced translator and has published translations from Latin to English, and from Bengali and English to Hindi.
Why do we tell stories out loud? How does one read a script? And how does one script a story? These are some of the questions Lav will address.
‘Staging a Script’ is a guest session at my writing programme, and those who are part of my current batches will join it at no additional cost. However, this session is also open to non-participants on payment of a fee.
All About Research with Dr Shayani Bhattacharya
What an enjoyable writing workshop we had yesterday with Dr Shayani Bhattacharya! Every guest session is fun, and I keep realising that when a teacher plans a session, it is […]
Writing Nonfiction
Writing nonfiction usually involves a certain amount of research, whether we’re writing book reviews or travelogues. Does research have to be daunting and dull? What kind of research is required when we create brochures or photo essays? What do we need to do to prepare for an interview?
As this is a guest session at my writing programme, participants who are part of my current batches will be part of it at no additional cost. However, this session is also open to non-participants on payment of a fee.
Online Creative Writing Programme (Ages 12 to 14) – October 21
THIS BATCH IS SOLD OUT! The next creative writing programme for this age-group will begin in April 2022.
This 12-week online creative writing programme is for ages 12 to 14. We will explore creative non-fiction, drama and stories together. The fee includes 12 online interactions, up to three guest sessions and access to a private forum, where participants share their work and receive detailed feedback several times a week.
Do note that there are only six seats per batch!
Online Creative Writing Programme (Ages 9 to 11) – October 21
THIS BATCH IS SOLD OUT! Registrations are now closed for this programme.
This 12-week online creative writing programme is for ages 9 to 11. We will explore creative non-fiction, drama and stories together. The fee includes 12 online interactions, up to three guest sessions, and access to a private forum, where participants share their work and receive detailed feedback several times a week.
Do note that there are only six seats per batch!
Illustration Workshop: The ART of Stories
Tanvi Bhat is a children’s book illustrator and author who has created books for publishers like Pratham Books, Duckbill and Tulika Books, to name a few. She likes working with watercolours and gouache when making pictures, and scribbling on scraps of paper that she’s constantly losing when she writes.
With her, participants will learn to look at illustration through the lens of storytelling. The visuals often weave a story of their own – how do they do that? Planning, pagination, characters and background design are important. How can we bring them into the illustration process?
Pirates, Legends, and Historical Fiction
Yesterday’s guest session was full of stories! While we are familiar with Long John Silver and Davy Jones’s locker, how many of us are equally familiar with Kanhoji Angre and […]
The Playwriting Module – Reflections and Resources
And just like that, the playwriting module of my creative writing programme is also over! We read two plays, played with props, explored dialogue, imagined the stage, examined the differences […]
Creative Writing Workshops – Reflections and Resources
I spend hours scouring the internet for creative writing resources. I love those hours, even though sometimes I find myself panicking. There are so many wonderful ideas out there! What […]
Writing Workshop: Pirates, Legends and Historical Fiction
The past is full of secrets. Pirates, shipwrecks and treasure make for thrilling stories. What pirates ruled the waters off the Malabar coast? What tales can we write about them?
This writing workshop on historical fiction will be conducted by historian Dr Radhika Seshan, former Head of the Department of History, Savitribai Phule Pune University. It is a guest session for participants at my online creative writing programmes, but is also open to non-participants on payment of a fee of ₹400.
Writing about Cyber Crime
What a fun session we had with digital forensic investigator Shweta A. Chawla yesterday! The children had all kinds of questions, and all kinds of stories. Nearly every child had […]
Writing about Cyber Crime
During my writing programme last year, I met many children who wanted to write detective stories. What would a detective story involve? How did investigations really happen? This got me thinking. What […]
First Guest Session – Writing about Cyber Crime
Detective stories are thrilling. Whether you read Secret Seven and Five Find-Outers and Dog or Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie, a story about an investigator solving a crime is always gripping. What about in the 21st century? What other kinds of detective stories can we write?
These were the questions I had in mind when I invited Shweta to come talk to us. Among other things, she will discuss:
What is a cyber investigator?
How do I write a story about a cyber detective?
What do we mean by digital forensics?
Online Creative Writing Programme (Ages 12 to 14) – April 2021
The second edition of my online creative writing programme for ages 12 to 14 is here! The fee includes twelve online interactions and access to a private, secure forum where participants share their work and receive feedback several times a week.