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Varsha Seshan

Names and Words

February 8, 2022 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Peanut vs the Piano We’re reading Peanut vs the Piano at two of my book clubs. Peanut, Papad and Pickle. What funny names those are! “I hope their parents named them after their favourite food!” I said. “Not things that were lying around. What if your parents had named you after their favourite foods? What […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, online reading programme, online workshops for children, Paati Goes Viral, Peanut vs the Piano, workshop anecdotes

Adventure on Wheels

January 19, 2022 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Adventure on Wheels is such a rollicking read! The book opens with two thieves stealing a van that belongs to an orphanage. The theft itself is simple enough, but when they discover three children hiding in the van, they’re up against more than they’d bargained for. At once heart-warming and hilarious, Adventure on Wheels is a fun […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Adventure on Wheels, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, online reading programme, online workshops for children, Prashant Pinge, reading, review

My Year in Workshops: 2021

January 14, 2022 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

The year 2021 was such an affirming year for me in terms of work! Since 2014, I’ve been freelancing. I’ve done workshops for children with the British Council, teacher training for Ratna Sagar, and I’ve been invited by schools and organisations to do workshops here and there. After nearly a year of the pandemic, these […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing workshops, online creative writing programme, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading workshops

Art, Music and Movement with Veda Aggarwal

December 19, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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? […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: Art Music and Movement, creative writing, creative writing with children, creative writing workshop, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, Veda Aggarwal

A Very Naughty Dragon

November 23, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I love Paro Anand’s books, and when I learned that she had collaborated with a nine-year-old girl to write a book, I was intrigued. As a teacher and creative writing trainer, I’ve read many stories that children have written. Some are excellent, others not so much. A Very Naughty Dragon? I had to read it to […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: A Very Naughty Dragon, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, online reading programme, online workshops for children, Paro Anand, reading, reading workshops, review, Sarah Rose

Staging a Script with Lav Kanoi

November 15, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Children, Workshops Tagged With: creative writing, creative writing workshops, Lav Kanoi, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, scriptwriting

The Butterfly Lion

November 6, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I love Michael Morpurgo. And The Butterfly Lion? I’ve had it on my shelf for ever so long, hoping to share it with more readers someday. That day is nearly here! The Butterfly Lion is a classic. In Michael Morpurgo’s signature style, he tells a heartfelt, almost mystical story in the simplest and most magical of […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, creative writing, Michael Morpurgo, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, reading workshops, The Butterfly Lion

All About Research with Dr Shayani Bhattacharya

October 24, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing with children, creative writing workshop, guest session, Nonfiction, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, research, Shayani Bhattacharya

Four Workshop Anecdotes

October 7, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

So many tiny things happen during workshops! Here’s a quick roundup of things that make me smile. Whispering During one of my sessions, a child raised his hand. I quickly summed up what I wanted to say so that I would not lose my chain of thought, and then asked him to speak.‘Actually, I want […]

Filed Under: Children, Workshops Tagged With: online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, reading workshop, The Chocolate Touch, The Vampire Boy, workshop anecdotes

Cricket for the Crocodile

September 11, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I launched my online reading programme for ages seven and eight in December last year, which means that this is the sixth edition of the programme. Each time, I’ve focused on Indian books – books written by Indians, published in India or set in India – usually all three. On the whole, I’ve tried to […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, Cricket for the Crocodile, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, reading workshop, review, Ruskin Bond

Pirates, Legends, and Historical Fiction

May 30, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing workshop, guest session, historical fiction, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, Radhika Seshan

At Least a Fish

May 21, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I love Anushka Ravishankar’s books. Whether it’s Moin and the Monster or Captain Coconut or At Least a Fish, I find myself chuckling as I read, shaking my head at her wacky humour. Ana, the protagonist of At Least a Fish, wants a dog. She really wants a dog. But her parents go and get her fish instead […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Anushka Ravishankar, At Least a Fish, books for ages seven and eight, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

Creative Writing Workshops – Reflections and Resources

May 20, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Resources, Workshops Tagged With: creative writing, creative writing with children, creative writing workshop, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, poetry

Looking Back at Another Reading Programme

May 13, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I love sharing stories with children, and this time’s batch of seven and eight-year-olds was even more fun than most. With each workshop I conduct, I treasure the stories we create together. The little anecdotes, the bubbles of laughter, the wide-eyed astonishment – these make workshops special! I wrote about a class where we spoke […]

Filed Under: Books, Workshops Tagged With: online reading programme, online workshops for children

Workshops Launching in May and June 2021

May 1, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I’ve received an overwhelming number of queries this time around, and I’m not surprised. Summer holidays! Registrations are now open for two reading programmes beginning on the 1st of June. Do note that with lockdowns in several places, book deliveries are experiencing delays. I will try to get the books to you in time for […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: At Least a Fish, Bookasura, Esio Trot, Fantastic Mr Fox, Moin and the Monster, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, The Monster Hunters

Writing about Cyber Crime

April 25, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Children, Workshops Tagged With: creative writing workshop, guest session, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, Shweta A. Chawla, Writing about Cyber Crime

Writing about Cyber Crime

April 17, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Children, Workshops Tagged With: creative writing workshop, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, Shweta A. Chawla, Writing about Cyber Crime

Workshops During a Pandemic

April 8, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Last week, I started reading Maya in a Mess with my book club for seven and eight-year-olds. As part of the discussion, I asked them, “Have you ever been a monitor in class? How do you feel?” “I feel like a king!” said one child.“I love it,” said another. “You don’t have to just stand […]

Filed Under: Children, Workshops Tagged With: online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading workshop, workshop anecdotes

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