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 before and I know how exciting conversations with her can be for a group of curious young writers. She's exciting, warm and generous with her interactions, never dismissing a question or an idea out of hand. For instance, there was a moment yesterday when a child asked her, "Could there be mermaids on some other planet?"Sreeja paused and then responded, "Why not?"Sreeja is a scientist at NASA and also leads a team at a start-up that is building and deploying what could be the first self-driving robotic fleet on public roads. She has a PhD in … [Read more...]
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 make my science fiction story believable?Do we need more stories about women in science?Fee₹400 per head (UPI: seshanvarsha@okhdfcbank or bank transfer - please contact me for my bank details; my number is in the poster)Age-group 9-13Date 5th December 2020Time 10 am to 11 am ISTAbout the guest facilitatorSreeja Nag is a Senior Research Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, where she leads a project called D-SHIELD. She is also working on what could be the first self-driving robotic fleet on public roads. Sreeja completed her PhD in Space Systems Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of … [Read more...]
The Writers’ Club 2018-19
Another year at the Writers' Club has come to an end, and what a wonderful session we had to bring a creative year of stories to an end!We began, as always, with an announcement of the winners of this year's Writers' Club competition. Competitions are such fun! They create a mood of anticipation and celebration, which ensures that the energy stays high throughout the session.As before, two girls from a previous batch evaluated the entries, for I feel that learning to critique work is an important part of growing as a writer. Their responses and comments were heart-warming, as they paid attention to detail and identified why they liked what they liked.The highlight of the session, though, was our special guest, Dr Sreeja Nag, dear friend, ex-student of St. Mary's and research engineer at NASA. She was wonderful, warm and expressive, and we had a lovely hour with … [Read more...]