I was unwell and could not stop coughing. Yet, armed with my enthusiasm (and a pill), I went for the Vidya Valley Lit Fest–and came back energised. The excitement pulsing through the school kept me going – and of course, the thoughtfulness of the team of parent volunteers in organising a mic helped! Every time […]
Using StoryWeaver in Class
I’ve been resisting writing this post for ever so long because it sounds like some sort of advertising campaign. I promise it’s not. It’s just that I’ve used StoryWeaver so many times during workshops that I really wanted to share how easy it is to bring such wonderful resources into the classroom. Why StoryWeaver? The […]
Lit Fests in Schools
Last year, St. Mary’s School had its first lit fest, and I was delighted to be part of it. Talking to starry-eyed children is an experience like no other, and that’s why lit fests in school are special. After addressing the children who were gathered together in the hall, we visited a few classrooms, met […]
Working with Poetry
Many children write poetry. Rhyme is fun, having your poem published in the school magazine is even more fun. Teachers and parents encourage children to write poetry, which is good. Of course there’s a ‘but’. People have been writing poetry forever. Forget the ancient languages, in English alone, even those who don’t opt to study […]
Working with Stories
Stories are magical; we all know that. What is even more magical is when you can feel creative energy pulsing all around you and then see those ideas transforming into stories. Creative Writing with Children Yesterday, at The Story Station, I met a group of enthusiastic young children, bursting with ideas. One boy had made […]
Catching Up – Workshops
It’s always fun to do workshops when I don’t have to organise them! Last week, I conducted a fun workshop at The King’s School in Goa. We worked with critical thinking – something that is close to my heart also because I taught Theory of Knowledge and enjoyed it so much. Lots of people ask […]
The Lit Bug Fest 2019
So often, I come across posts that talk about how lit fests are a waste of time for authors, and how lit fests exclude rather than include. For me, though, lit fests remain unadulterated fun. Does this have something to do with being a children’s writer, perhaps? The Lit Bug Fest, Pune’s own lit fest, […]
Explore the Prophecy of Rasphora
Last month, The Story Station invited me to interact with a group of young writers. I spoke about my journey as a writer and conducted an activity based on my latest middle-grade novel, The Prophecy of Rasphora. A little about the book … Three young girls stumble upon Rasphora, a land behind a waterfall. There, they begin to […]
Pen to Paper Creative Writing Workshop
The Pen to Paper competition was a nationwide search for young writers, organised by Edupeer and ICICI Lombard. It received about 10,000 entries! These were narrowed down to 2,000 and 1,000 and then, finally, the top 150 writers from all over the country were selected to receive training from an author. When FunOKPlease contacted me […]
What if …?
I love ‘what ifs’. What if there’s another me on the other side of the mirror? What if a half-boy-half-deer wanted to fit in? What if someone experimented with smells and could create them? What if an old Bajaj scooter began to fly? These were some of the what-ifs that inspired the stories in The Story-Catcher. […]
Creative Writing Workshops
What’s better than a creative writing workshop with enthusiastic children?Two creative writing workshops with enthusiastic children! On Saturday, I did a workshop at Meridian Kids Club for the first time. New place, new children – it’s always fun! An activity I love is creating monsters together, and this time was no different. We played a […]
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 […]
Reading and Data
Adults love data. They love graphs and statistics and numbers. During workshops with adults, the moment I put up a graph, I have everyone’s attention as if I’m finally saying something ‘real’. And that’s why I started working with real-time polls through Mentimeter. I show my audience a question and all those with smart phones […]
Making Creative Writing Engaging
Sometimes, I wonder whether secretly, I conduct creative writing workshops more to inspire myself than to inspire the children I work with. Whatever it is, I do know that I enjoy myself tremendously whenever I teach creative writing. I feed off the enthusiasm of the children and I come home ready to write, which is […]
Reading Workshops: Why? What? How?
Many, many parents ask me what a reading workshop is. What happens during a reading workshop? Who should attend a reading workshop and why? What will the outcome of a reading workshop be? This post tries to explain all that. What children read and why Often, at reading workshops I conduct, we talk about books […]
World Read Aloud Day at the Writers’ Club
The Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School meets only twice a week, so World Read Aloud Day sometimes becomes Writers’ Club Read Aloud Day, but so what? I celebrated it for the first time last year and it was so much fun that I did it again this year. This time, children came forward and […]
Working with Librarians
During the first two weeks of the year, I made lists of books I loved, and more than once, I found myself writing about how reading levels differ so much that it is difficult to associate a level with an age. Thinking about all of this, I decided write about a reading programme I’ve been […]
Big Books at the Writers’ Club
Aren’t lit fests delightful? Last week, I was invited to St. Mary’s School’s first lit fest, and it was lovely. We walked into books like this one … And we had a panel discussion where we spoke about stories, poems, writing, dancing and music. We then visited classrooms and saw the work the children had […]
Our Own Voices
I just skimmed through yet another article about how, growing up, we associated ‘white people doing white things’ with ‘people doing people things‘. This is an idea that I have to confront all the time, for racism is everywhere. It has forms that we unwillingly perpetuate too. For instance, I have an Indian friend who […]
Reading, Writing, Dancing
Two weeks ago, I asked the children at my Writers’ Club whether they would like to make readers laugh or cry. Three girls said they wanted to make readers laugh. 12 said they wanted to make readers cry. When a few said they would like to do both, those who had already raised their hands […]
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