A 20 foot “wall” for nine days, for those for whom words on paper are the ultimate form of expression.

The venue at the David Sassoon Library garden will have one wall devoted to writing by anyone who wants a slot. (Click here to read the whole post)

We have an almost-final version of the programme up here. And here’s a map:

[Click on the image for an enlarged version. 314kb.]

Update (Feb 29th) The emails we referred to in the 13th Feb update were sent out on the 24th Feb. To all the selected authors, good luck and godspeed. We hope to see your name in lights soon.

Important update (Feb 13th) We’re having a little hassle with our automated emails to scouts and selected authors.
And, several of our scouts have requested more time to evaluate pitches - last week was a very heavy one for our friends in the publishing business.
So, making a virtue of necessity, we are opening up the scouting console to them up to the end of this week.
And we will send out those connecting emails on Monday, 18th February.
Please ensure that you’re subscribed to Caferati Contests for further updates.
Update ends

Have you wondered how to catch the eye of a publisher? Have you despaired of getting them to take just one look at the manuscript you’ve toiled over? We have a contest this year that will help you to do just that. And the prize? You could wind up being published. Doesn’t get simpler. Or better.

Submission method

Simple.

Go to this web form. (But puhleeze make sure you read the entire page here first.)

Fill in the following:
- The Title of your book - up to 5 words
- A Blurb, exciting enough to grab your target’s attention - up to 50 words
- An Synopsis of the book - up to 500 words
- An extract from your Manuscript - up to 5000 words
- Select one or more genres that your book fits into.

And then?

From the 4th to the 9th February, Talent Scouts from several publishing houses and a few literary agents will be checking out all the submissions.

Each scout will first see only your Title and your Blurb (so make sure that those work very hard), and the genre(s) that your book fits into.
If those catch her/his eye, s/he can then click through to the Synposis.
And if that meets with her/his approval, then s/he will click through to the manuscript Extract. Then, if your submission interests her/him, we will make the connection between that Scout and you. If more than one Scout likes your submission, then hey, you’ll hear from all of them, you lucky so-and-so! After that, it’s up to you and the Scout to take the whole thing forward.

Deadline

Midnight (Indian Standard Time), 3rd February, 2008.
(Click here to read the whole post)

Flash Fiction (also called micro-fiction or short-shorts) presents a simple challenge: tell a story with all the classical elements: a beginning, middle and end, a conflict and resolution, a credible protagonist.. but do so in a very limited number of words. Fire up your favourite web search engine. There are plenty of tutorials and guidelines available online, as well as excellent examples of the genre.

This contest kindly sponsored by Sulekha Blogs. Please go visit them.

Flash Fiction is now in its third year at the Kala Ghoda contests.

Theme

Tall story
(Click here to read the whole post)

SMS Poetry has one simple guideline: The entire poem must be short enough to fit into a single 160-character SMS.

This contest is now in its fourth year at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.

Theme

An Anti-Valentine
(Click here to read the whole post)

Making its debut this year, this contest widens the genres that our Kala Ghoda contests cover. We’re looking for incisive essays that see different sides of the story, that have an opinion of their own, that are lucid and engaging, and, because we live in an information overload age where no one has time to read—and because we, the judges, have lives—essays that can make a point faster and more clearly than this convoluted sentence did.

Theme

The Death of the Essay
(Click here to read the whole post)

This is an attempt to give performance poetry a bit of a push, to bring some new voices out into the open, to put a little more audience participation into poetry, and, not least, to have a little fun.

The slam made its debut last year (the first in India, actually) to much enjoyment from the audience and the participants. You can see the scoresheets from the live contest here.

Themes

There are four themes:
Name
Place
Animal
Thing
You must also have one more poem—your choice of theme—which we’ll call the ‘Free Poem.’
(Click here to read the whole post)

Date: Saturday, 9th February (Session 1), Sunday 10th February (Session 2)
Time: 12:30 – 14:30 (both days)
Venue: Muse Boutique
Conducted by: Sarnath Banerjee and Samit Basu

The graphic form is a new language to tell the most pertinent tales of the time, to manufacture a local and probably work towards an idiom of our own. The workshop will hopefully introduce the form, its scopes and how can one use it. We will also discuss cross discipline practices using the graphic novel.

(More about the workshop leaders and details on how to register below the fold.)
(Click here to read the whole post)

Date:Sunday, 10th February
Time: 13:30 – 16:30
Venue: Bombay Natural History Society, Auditorium
Conducted by: Ranjit Hoskote

One of the best ways of preparing for poetry, apart from trusting the senses and sharpening the mind, is to dip into the vast archive of poetic forms and concerns from around the world, which we inherit as contemporary writers. Ranjit Hoskote will discuss the pastoral, which is one of the oldest forms of poetry, and lead a workshop dedicated to its understanding and its practice.

Beginning in Greek and Latin poetry as an evocation of the simplicity and serenity of Arcadia — in a world already made complex by urban life, military intrigue and transnational trade — the pastoral has taken on many avatars. We find its energies in the nostalgic Renaissance poem for the garden, the forest or the meadow, recalled at the heart of court and city. It becomes the nature poem of the Romantics, retrieving waterfall and meadow in a landscape transformed by the Industrial revolution. We encounter it, again, as the dream of instinctual life, closer to the animal world than human psychology; and in the new ecological poem.

Hoskote will speak on the pastoral, its history and possibilities, offering examples that include Marvell, Keats, Ted Hughes, Amy Clampitt, as well as a range of contemporary poets. He will also encourage workshop participants to test out the form, see how they can incorporate it in their own lives and engage with it in their own writing.

(More about the workshop leader and details on how to register below the fold.)
(Click here to read the whole post)

Date: Saturday, 9th February (Session 1), Sunday 10th February (Session 2)
Time: 10:30 – 12:30 (both days)
Venue: Elphinstone College, Seminar Room 2
Conducted by: Neeru Nanda

The premise of this workshop is that all children can cook up great stories (parents, don’t we know that!!) but when it comes to writing them out they flounder. So, on Day 1 we will generate an original story (on a title to be given in the workshop), which the kids will write out at home. On Day 2 we will discuss each child’s story against the background of Creative Writing. The 3 best stories will be posted on the Kala Ghoda Gazette.

(More about the workshop leader and details on how to register below the fold.)
(Click here to read the whole post)

Date: Saturday, 2nd February
Time: 14:30 – 16:30
Venue: National Gallery of Modern Art, Auditorium
Conducted by: Jeet Thayil

This two-hour workshop will deal with the basic technical aspects of performing poetry to an audience. We will talk about voice, music, stance; what to do with your hands, your body, your face. We’ll watch performances by Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, Anne Waldman, and Charles Bukowski, and identify the qualities that make these performances interesting, or not.

We’ll discuss what makes a poem work on the page and what makes it work on the stage and whether it is possible for a poem to do both. And we’ll ask if the skills required for performance are entirely different from those required for writing.

I’d like participants to send poems in before the workshop, and I encourage participants to memorize the poems they want critiqued.

(More about the workshop leader and details on how to register below the fold.)
(Click here to read the whole post)

Date: Saturday, 2nd February (Session 1), Sunday 3rd February (Session 2)
Time: 14:30 – 16:30 (both days)
Venue: Bombay Natural History Society, Auditorium
Conducted by: Jane Bhandari and Marilyn Noronha

The goal here is to teach adults how to translate their ideas, thoughts and feelings into writing that appeals to children. This workshop will primarily be concerned with writing in prose.

Session 1: “Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley.”
Introducing the basic elements of good story-telling.
Practical applications: creating credible characters.

Session 2: Weaving the plot.
Creating a story and bringing it to a satisfying conclusion.
Practical applications: working in groups to present a short story.

(More about the workshop leader and details on how to register below the fold.)
(Click here to read the whole post)

Date: Saturday, 9th February
Time: 13:30 – 16:30
Venue: Bombay Natural History Society, Auditorium
Conducted by: Anita Roy

What Every Writer Should Know About Publishing is intended as an introduction to the book publishing industry for writers who are relatively new to it, or for those who just want to find out what goes in to making a book—from proposal to finished product.
It will offer guidance about how to go about finding the best ‘home’ for your work, and will also deal with some of the professional—rather than just the creative—aspects of writing. We’ll also cover some basics of editing your own work and that of others and what to expect from the editors you encounter along the way. This is aimed at maximizing your chances of getting your proposal or manuscript accepted. The workshop is open to writers of any denomination—fiction, non-fiction, children’s, poets, academics, published or unpublished, Booker prize-winners or absolute beginners.

(More about the workshop leader and details on how to register below the fold.)
(Click here to read the whole post)

Dates: Saturday, 9th February (Session 1); Sunday, 10th February (Session 2)
Time: 14:30 – 16:30 (both days)
Venue: National Gallery of Modern Art, Auditorium
Conducted by: Anuvab Pal

This workshop will introduce participants to the nuts and bolts of playwriting. At the end of the two sessions, participants will have written a short play.

(More about the workshop leader and details on how to register below the fold.)
(Click here to read the whole post)

Date: Saturday, 2nd February (Session 1); Sunday, 3rd February (Session 2)
Time: 10:30 – 13:30 (both days)
Venue: Bombay Natural History Society, Auditorium
Conducted by: Kavita Bhanot

PenTathlon, a two-day workshop, will serve as an introduction to fiction writing. It will include five fun writing exercises that draw inspiration from the world around us, and will focus on five aspects of creative writing: characterization, dialogue, description, point-of-view and openings. All these will be drawn together to produce a micro-story over two days.

(More about the workshop leader and details on how to register below the fold.)
(Click here to read the whole post)