When my first book, The Story-Catcher, was published, we started playing a game. We would go to every bookstore in every city we visited and try to find a copy of the book. It was impossible. And yet, it was exciting. I even got a spreadsheet from my publishers, listing the stores in which my book would be available, and we went to those stores in the city, hunting.I never found my book. Not even when it was on display like this:This was at Crossword, Mulund. Look at the number of copies on the shelf. You guessed right. I didn't see them.This was in the shop window of Chapter and Verse (now shut down), and I didn't see it. When I went for the Asian Festival of Children's Content in 2018, I knew my book Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells would be in print. I had not yet received my sample copies, and I didn't even know how the book looked. I hunted … [Read more...]
Reflecting on Reading on International Women’s Day
A few years ago, I was invited to judge a 'Come as a Character' competition at Symbiosis International School, and it was good fun. I encountered all kinds of characters, ranging from Matilda to Ebenezer Scrooge. I've now seen multiple schools that conduct similar activities; I've done so myself at my Writers' Club.Yet, for a while, I've been thinking about something that makes me rather uncomfortable. Dozens of girls dress up as Harry Potter, Geronimo Stilton or Charlie Bucket. But no boys dress up as Matilda or Thea Stilton or Katniss Everdeen.This was brought into sharp focus recently, when a parent asked me for recommendations for a character for her son to dress up as. The idea of dressing him up as a female character seemed absurd to her. I wonder, would it have been as absurd to dress a daughter as a male character?Today, on international women's day, I find myself … [Read more...]
Bangalore 2020
Bangalore is probably among my favourite cities in the world. I love the weather, I love the trees (even though so many have been cut), and most of all, I love the mood of the city. As a child, I used to spend every summer there, at my grandparents'. Now, I continue to go there at least once a year, sometimes more.This year, I went for my great-aunt's 80th birthday. For a long time, my great aunt and great uncle have been asking us to perform at the senior citizens' residency where they live, and we finally did! It was lovely, absolutely lovely.They last saw us perform when we did our Arangetram - over 15 years ago. To their minds, we had just continued. We performed and all of that, but I don't think they expected us to be professional dancers. They were overwhelmed, and that's what makes me feel that a performance was possibly the best gift we could have given my great aunt for her … [Read more...]
My Year in Writing
Being a writer is never easy. Things take too long, and there's little to show for it. Long silences, endless waiting and wondering, a general feeling of isolation ... Yet, the highs are so high that they make everything worth it.In 2019, among the biggest highs for me was the discovery of warm, supportive groups on social media. I didn't even know that this was something part of me needed, simply because I'm so used to the feeling of submitting stories into the void and never hearing back from editors and publishers. Rejection, too, is equally normal. Form rejections are terrible, but silence is worse.Then, I discovered that people set targets for themselves - of how many rejections they will get each year. A hundred rejections - that's a normal target.And this was new to me. It opened my eyes to wonderful new possibilities. Instead of agonising over perfection, why not send … [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...]
Today I Am … A Writer!
The worst thing about being a writer is not writer's block. Not by a long stretch. The worst thing is all the waiting.Waiting for people to respond. Waiting for a book to be ready. Waiting for a book to hit the market. Every time I get an email - even a rejection - there is a little Varsha inside me that celebrates, simply because the waiting period is over.That's why this week has been particularly incredible. So incredible that I don't know what to write about first. So, not in any order of importance, here goes.I was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award once more. In 2016, a collection of my short stories was shortlisted, and it will be published by Scholastic Asia later this year. This time, a novel titled Red Eyes is on the list!Mango Books published my book, The Prophecy of Rasphora, and you can now buy it easily at the Mango Books e-store or … [Read more...]