A mathematics graduate turned children’s book writer, Anushka Ravishankar ,was at the school campus on 5-Aug-14, to conduct a creative writing workshop for students of age group of 8 to 12 years . Ms 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 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. According to the author, “Creative writing is not simply to do with writing a story. It is the ability to express in words, thoughts that would otherwise remain silent – invisible. You could say that creative writing is anything where the purpose is to express thoughts, feelings and emotions rather than to simply convey information.” The workshop generated a lot of interest as it presented lucidly how one should approach creative writing. Mr Mitul Dikshit, Chairman of the school said, “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.”