No writer is ever free of self doubt and especially when one has just begun writing, countless questions fill the mind.
More than anything else, writers need to hear that it is doable. And so the third session of Anita’s Attic had the brilliant Srinath Perur author of If it’s Monday, It Must Be Madurai speak to the writers on his journey from writer to published author.
As for my writers at the Creative Writing Program, with each week I see their enthusiasm for the program and their commitment to their project grow. Could a teacher or mentor ask for more?
Jayapriya Vasudevan from the Jacaranda Literary Agency, based out of Singapore, interacted with the Class at Anita’s Attic, on 31 st January 2015 – the second week in the Creative Writing Course & Mentorship program at Anita’s Attic.
Jayapriya has more than twenty years experience of working in publishing, during which time she has worked in virtually every area of the business. Born in Calcutta, to a family of writers, she studied literature at college and went on to work for numerous publishers, learning the business firsthand. From editing and event management, to sales and distribution, she has ‘done it all.’
Then, having spotted a gap in the market, together with a partner, she set up India’s first bookstore café in Bangalore. It was here that she organized literary salons, inviting up to fifteen authors at a time to speak. Bookseller magazine hailed her as “one of India’s most dynamic booksellers.”
In 1997, she decided to use her years of experience in publishing to set up Jacaranda, India’s first ever literary agency. She went on build up an impressive list, working with distinguished authors such as Anita Nair and Shashi Warrior.
Following a stint living in Beijing, where she continued to develop her list, Jayapriya moved to Singapore in 2006. Once there she founded Books@Jacaranda LLP. Over the years the agency has grown and now represents more than 45 authors across South East Asia and beyond. Jayapriya has spoken at literary conferences all over Asia, from Istanbul and India to Manila and Singapore. Now a Singapore citizen, she is passionate about the visual and performing arts, about books, travel and people.
In less than five months since we first discussed the possibility of setting up a writing academy and mentorship program, Anita’s Attic opened its doors on 24 January 2015 to its first batch of writers. A whole new beginning. A journey that we will undertake over the next twelve Saturdays. Diverse voices but equally exciting talent. Can’t wait to see what emerges at the end of twelve weeks.
It’s exciting, magical and will certainly drain me out…but hey, one must try everything at least once except incest and Morris Dancing.
It was a batch of 13 participants at the first off-site creative thinking and writing workshop held under the auspices of Anita’s Attic at SAP Labs Bangalore. A baker’s dozen, I thought with a secret laugh. And how appropriate it was for I love baking and writing holds the same inexplicable combination of art and science that makes some better bakers than others.
Over two sessions held over two weeks, I saw the initial hint of skepticism fade. No one can teach another person to write but what is possible is to identify the strength of a writer and mentor it. It gave me an incredible high to see how well the writing exercises seemed to draw out latent abilities and how with each assignment, the confidence and the voice of the writer grew stronger. The queries at the end of each session became more focussed and more pertinent.
Just as the participants I had been unsure on what to expect from this workshop. But I think I learnt from the experience just as much as each one of them did. To draw out the shy and reticent participant to bridle rambunctious creative energy to step in only when I needed to or for most parts let the creative vision follow its own path.
For Anita’s Attic is not about creating an army of clones but is about shaping your creativity and your voice to be your own.
Supriya Sharma‘s splendid coverage of Anita’s Attic in the Sunday Express.
From the article
Starting January 24, the 12-week programme will be spread over 12 five-hour classes every Saturday at Bagalur Main Road in Bangalore. This endeavour is supported by *conditionsapply, a Bangalore-based digital advertising agency. “There are quite a few creative writing courses around but aren’t really about helping people find their voice and nurture it. It is mostly formulaic techniques. It [Anita’s Attic] seemed like a good idea because I was thinking of my own journey as an author and how much I had to flounder around before I knew what I was doing and how I was going to write,” says Anita. “I also think it is very unreal when you have a back-to-back two-week programme. A writer doesn’t have time to go back and look at their own work and think about it. It is just writing under pressure which is not how you’d really want to write. So I wanted to build in that much of time to actually write something substantial that would bring out the best in that writer,” she adds.
Read the complete article as it originally appeared here.
Anita’s Attic conducts its first Off-site Creative Writing Workshop in Bangalore for SAP Labs’ Literati, India’s largest corporate book-club.
Spread over two weekends ( Saturdays ) Anita Nair would conduct the creative writing workshop on campus, for SAP employees. In line with the founding principles of Anita’s Attic of helping “Find The Voice”, this Workshop would also introduce the participants into the writing process, techniques, and discussions, so the participant becomes acquainted with both thought and craft that goes into the creation of a piece of creative writing. This will also enable the participant to understand how exactly to locate the ‘voice’ which is the foundation to a literary pursuit.
We will keep you updated on the Workshop right here, as it happens.
It’s been two weeks since Anita’s Attic went live. And we are already oversubscribed but I intend to keep the doors open. I am going to wait till the end of the month to decide who exactly will constitute my first batch.
It is an exciting time and there are some concerns too. I think the last time I felt this avalanche of mixed emotions was when I was published my first novel. The wondering, the not-knowing, an occasional flash of apprehension at what may or may not emerge, the possibilities across the corner and a delirious joy that a long cherished dream was now on the threshold of reality.
For the last two weeks, I have thought of little else but Anita’s Attic and how to make it the best writer’s atelier. It isn’t just about working on crafting and the narrative process. It is also shaping a perspective; to teach how to perceive and absorb differently. All through my long car ride through the length and breadth of Punjab, and or as I sat in the quiet of my publisher’s home in Delhi early in the day sipping a cup of ginger tea, I found I could seldom veer away from Anita’s Attic – detail after detail for each detail is significant in the shaping of a mind.
After all, as David Ogilvy once said,”God is in the details”. It is a lesson that I have drawn from to guide me in both my professional and personal life.
And now in Anita’s Attic.
Stephen King discusses the art of writing short stories and short fiction
Jayanthi Madhukar at the Bangalore Mirror did a splendid coverage of Anita’s Attic, Anita Nair’s comprehensive writing and mentorship program for aspiring authors which is also curated & conducted by her.
From the article
Going through the unfamiliar route and gaining success has made Nair empathetic to others. Since she has become a published writer, she admits to getting at least five emails every day from writers requesting her to read and critique their manuscripts. “Where is the time for such feedback?” she asks. “Besides, an email does not convey the intent of the writer to me. Is he/she serious about writing?” This programme though, she thinks, will make it easy for her to spot talent. “I will be looking out for two things — the originality of thought and a distinct voice,” she states. Whenever an author gets to be well-known, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, many new writers imitate his/her style. “Why would I read a John Updike or a Paul Theroux clone when I can read the real thing? Writing has to be honest. There has to be a distinct voice.”
Read the complete article as it originally appeared here.
Anita’s Attic, Anita Nair’s comprehensive writing and mentorship program for aspiring authors, curated & conducted by her, found mention in the Authors’ profiles they ran of the shortlisted ones vying for The Hindu Prize 2014.
From the featured profile
The two sequels to follow will flesh out this historical period in greater detail. Having got a grip on research methodology with the first novel, Nair hopes to be more organised with the next two. For now, Nair has taken a break from history and is working on a sequel to A Cut Like Wound, featuring Inspector Gowda, in an attempt to “come back to the contemporary reality.” She is also putting together a writing academy with a mentorship programme, to be christened “Anita’s Attic.”
Read the complete article as it originally appeared here.
There isn’t perhaps a more solitary calling than writing. First there are the countless voices of self-doubt: Why write? What do I write? What am I going to do differently from all the other writers out there – published and unpublished? (more…)
