Not Just Mangoes & Monsoons: How To Write Authentically About Your World

In this free 2-hour online workshop, we will explore how to take inspiration from the rich immediate world around us—our homes, our neighbourhood, our family—even what we last ate for lunch!—to make our writing come alive. We'll discuss Adichie's 'The Danger of a Single Story' and challenge the 'rules' placed on writers by the Western world on the kinds of stories we can tell.

We will look at short stories and excerpts by contemporary Indian writers such as Deepa Anappara and Aravind Jayan as well as Arundhati Roy to analyse what makes their fiction so vivid and close to home yet universal, and learn from their techniques. Through writing prompts and exercises, we will play with technical aspects of fiction such as description, detail and voice to fearlessly craft new story ideas that feel authentic to our lived experience—and use them as tools to propel our writing. 

Participants can expect to leave the workshop having written new short pieces, and gained greater confidence to continue to write more and approach their world with curiosity.

Timings: 5pm IST/ 12.30pm GMT/ 2.30pm AST