This page indexes SatCT-V1 mentions in the media.

Mid-day, 1st Oct 2004, in Top 5 things to do

Stories at the Coffee Table
Oxford Bookstore
Oxford Bookstore and Bombay Writers' Café invite you to the launch of a unique initiative - Stories at the Coffee Table today at 7.00 pm.
A short story competition organized by writers and editors themselves will be held and thirty of the best entries will be compiled into an anthology titled Stories at the Coffee table. This is a great opportunity for the hidden writer in all of you. So head to Oxford and realise your potential.

The Daily Star, 16th Oct 2004, in Letter from Mumbai.

For Mumbai's writers, there has been some good news as well. For decades now, writers have recognized the need to get together to find an audience for their work; if you are a short story writer, the chances of being published are almost nil, and if you are a poet, then the situation gets even worse.

A couple of weeks ago, however, a few young writers in Mumbai got together at the Oxford Bookstore to launch Stories at the Coffee Table. The initiative comes from the Bombay Writers Cafe (BWC), a group of writers who came together online on a networking site, Ryze, discovered they had a great deal in common and decided to provide a platform to other writers. They have now moved on to put together a collaborative blog, and have evolved into an offline group, with about 200 members in different cities. So far, they've been accessible at www.youngindianwriters.com, but Peter Griffin, one of the members, tells me that Caferati is now at its own webspace : http://www.caferati.com/.

BWC has announced a nation-wide contest, inviting entries for Stories at the Coffee Table, Volume One. They are asking for original, previously unpublished short fiction in English (up to 3,000 words), to be published in book form. The contest is open to all residents of India, and Indian citizens anywhere in the world, and the last date is October 31. Entries need to be sent via email to caferati@gmail.com. Check out http://www.caferati.com/ SATCT-V1.htm for more details on the contest.

The BWC has worked out an elaborate judging method, and with each story being read by at least two of the seven editors and selectors, only the very best should get through.

Sunil Nair, author of a collection of poetry, Vignettes , and a novel, Chatroom Blues , says the BWC's next project will be a poetry venture. If they succeed - and there is no reason why they shouldn't, given their determination to do so - it spells good news for all those young writers in India who have despaired of ever seeing their work in print.