Creative Writing Workshop by Anushka Ravishankar for Junior Students – A mathematics graduate turned children’s book writer, Anushka Ravishankar, was in Chandigarh on Aug 4, 2014 to conduct a creative writing workshop for students of Dikshant International School, Zirakpur. Anushka has made an international name for herself with eleven books of nonsense verse. She emerged as the sub-continental pioneer of the genre with her effortless and fizz-gibbinous adaptations of this difficult form to the cadences of Indian English, and has been duly dubbed “India’s Dr. Seuss.” Her books have been translated into seven languages and have earned twelve awards and counting.
The young students of the age group of 8 to 12 years got a great opportunity to learn the nuances and intricacies associated with creative writing right from the horse’s mouth.
The workshop was structured to give an overview of Contemporary Children’s literature, genres and trends, and an understanding of the craft of writing for children. The goal was to enable each participant to explore the kind of stories that they want to tell. The young participants were asked to submit a synopsis of what they want to write. Each child was given one to one feedback on each submission.
The day-long workshop; looked primarily at how a piece of fiction works – breaking down the various elements, examining their component parts, and then having a go ourselves. Students were explained in detail concepts like character, plot, point of view, tone, authorial ‘voice’, description – to identify what works, what doesn’t, and why. After this plenty of hands-on exercises were given to get the creative juices flowing, and imagination working hard.
The idea behind organising the workshop was to expose students to creative writing skills and present a whole new career option in front of them.Duckbill , organizes workshops for children on a regular basis and the one held by Anushka at Dikshant International School, Zirakpur was a part of this initiative.