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. As a writer, I am often caught in a capitalist circle, writing with a clear goal in sight. What is the purpose of a piece? […]
White Socks Only
White Socks Only is a stunning piece of literature and art, a charming book about a curious child eager to find out whether something she’s heard is true. I revisited this book purely for the purpose of teaching it, and there’s just so much to explore! Of course, the obvious choices would be to visit […]
Staging a Script with Lav Kanoi
What an enriching scriptwriting session we had with Lav Kanoi on Saturday! Ah, there’s nothing like a guest session to bring a fresh spurt of energy to our creative writing programme. “What is a story?” That’s the question Lav began with.I like the question. What is a story, really? As we talked about it, we […]
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 meticulous, detailed, excellent! We discussed what we research, how we research and why we research, but then we went on to something that’s important to […]
The ART of Stories
And just like that, the third and last guest session at this edition of my online creative writing programme is over! This one was an illustration workshop, conducted by children’s book illustrator and author Tanvi Bhat. As always, the participants had so many questions! Here are a handful. How do we create our own style […]
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 pirates of the Malabar? We began with a discussion of myths, legends, and historical fiction, and this, I think, is an important idea that […]
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 can I use? I want to use them all! At those times, I need to step away from my laptop and remind myself that I […]
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 a story of a parent or relative receiving a call and asking for an OTP or bank details. It just shows you how close cyber […]
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 could I do that would be new and unusual? I’ve never solved a crime. I have no inside knowledge. And if children (and I!) don’t […]
Workshops Launching in April 2021
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR ALL THESE PROGRAMMES. The next reading programmes begin in the first week of June, and the next writing programmes will be held in October. I will also organise three short guest sessions as part of my writing programme. These will be free for those who are part of the programme, […]
Creating Memorable Characters with Sophie
And just like that, the third and last guest session for the current batches of my online writing programme is over. It doesn’t feel like very long ago that I announced the programme, wondering whether there would be enough participants. I did not promise guest sessions because I knew it would depend on the response […]
Workshop Anecdotes
So many little things happen during workshops! That’s what makes them so much fun. For instance, my reading programme began on Tuesday and I started with Asha Nehemiah’s Trouble with Magic. We spoke about all the wonderful things we’d invent because, in some ways, science and magic are pretty much the same thing. One child […]
Creating Memorable Characters
Both batches of my online creative writing programme began in October. Two months out of three have flown by, and I can’t quite believe that I’ve had eight sessions with each batch. We’ve had two wonderful guest sessions too – one with author Nalini Sorensen and one with Dr. Sreeja Nag. It’s time to announce […]
Science Stories with Sreeja
What a whirlwind weekend I’ve had! With the Scholastic Writing Awards ceremony, a guest session at my online creative writing programme, and a weekend workshop for the ten winners of the Scholastic Writing Awards, the weekend has flown by in the best possible way! As with every guest session, yesterday was special. I’ve invited Sreeja […]
Stories of Space Robots and Rockets
A couple of weeks ago, I found myself thinking – an online writing programme is not a lit fest. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to invite people who would be able to do something entirely new? What could I do to bring in a new kind of story? And here was my answer: How can I […]
Reflections – Part 1
During the course of any creative writing programme I conduct, about two or three times, I ask children to stop and reflect on everything they’ve felt and everything they’ve done during their sessions with me. Now that we’re one month into my online programme, it was time. And as usual, I could not stop smiling […]
Writing Stories with Nalini Sorensen
Each morning, among the first things I do is visit my creative writing forum. I love it. I love that every day, there are new pieces to read, all shared by young writers who are part of my online creative writing programme. I’ve done four sessions with one batch and three with another; it’s time […]
Creative Writing with Children
Every time I work with children on creative writing, I realise why I enjoy it so much. Each interaction is full of laughter, fun, and most joyous of all–moments when children finally understand something and it shows on their faces. I’m still elated after yesterday’s online creative writing session! Since I launched the programme on […]
Online Creative Writing Programme (ages 9 to 11)
Please note that registrations are now closed for this batch. To find out about the next batch for this age-group, please fill this form, or follow me on my social media handles – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Outline Different kinds of poetry Making a story engaging Creating believable characters Working with plot and setting Genre […]
Online Creative Writing Programme (ages 12 to 14)
Please note that registrations are now closed for this batch. To find out about the next batch for this age-group, please fill this form, or follow me on my social media handles – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. “I’ve written five poems. Will you read them?” “I’ve written three stories. How can I get them published?” […]