Stuck at home with no possibility of going out? Take this time and let the creative bug bite you! Pomegranate presents ‘Writers Flock!’– an online 7-week creative writing mentorship where young adult writers can come together, hone their craft and learn from the best! Boost your student portfolio, be it for college or university applications, and build a collection of your own written works as you interact with our mentors.
How does it work?
Participants can choose any 5 genres at the outset and then use virtual classrooms as they are mentored by experts week-by-week. Participants will be given weekly goals, writing tasks and assignments that need to be fulfilled and share with the mentors. The mentorship includes video tutorials, individual feedback on written pieces as well a variety of resource materials from handouts & readings to videos & handy tips.
One genre will be taken up per week
What genres can you choose?
Participants can choose any 5 genres out of the 7 listed below:
Poetry – Participants will be introduced to different types of poetry such as haiku, ekphrasis, as well as poetic devices like rhyme, alliteration, line-breaks, onomatopoeia, etc. to build a small collection of poems
Historical Fiction – Examining how history can influence the turn of a story, participants will create their own pieces of historical fiction as they explore settings and characters inspired by historical time periods/ events
Humour Writing – Understanding the nuances of humour and how to inject it into everyday things, participants can choose to work with forms such as comedy sketches, monologues or poems
Dialogue Writing – Exploring characters through dialogue writingas participants experiment with prompts and create a variety of dialogues
Coming of Age – A genre featuring young adult protagonists dealing with issues such as self-esteem, bullying, courage, finding your way, etc., where participants craft their own stories using issues that matter to them
Opinion Pieces & Editorial – Focusing on creating opinion pieces and editorials by reflecting on socioeconomic and political scenarios where journalistic voice and attention to facts and figures are every bit important
Science Fiction – Exploring fiction where science and technology intersect with societies and ways of living as participants create their own sci-fi stories taking inspiration from the world around them
Faculty:
Joy Fernandes has over three decades of experience on stage, both nationally and internationally. His international work includes playing the comic lead ‘Nick Bottom’ in the internationally acclaimed version of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ directed by Tim Supple which ran for over 250 successful shows in India, US, UK, Canada, Europe and Australia. He also played the principal character of ‘Shantilal’ in the commercial hit ‘Merchants of Bollywood’ directed by Toby Gough and was part of their successful tours in UK, China, Australia, New Zealand & Singapore.
Joy has also acted for, worked and workshopped with theatre stalwarts like Dame Cicely Berry, IrshadPanjatan, Catherine Dubois, Naseerudin Shah, Rajat Kapoor, RamuRamanathan, Danish Hussain and others. He has acted in, written, directed and produced several successful plays over the years. He has acted in several feature films (JajantaramMamantaram, Paanch, Dasvidanyaetc), and directed, scripted and acted for several TV shows, ads, web-series, stand-up gigs, conceived and hosted events etc. He has trained every age and personality profile in voice and drama and is a member of the Guest Faculty for Comedy, Voice, Breath, Speech and Improvisation, at the prestigious Films and Television Training Institute in Pune. He conducts theatre therapy for corporates under his brand, EnterTrainment. Humour, comedy, wit and satire are an integral part of Joy and passionately show up in most of his work.
Joy will be mentor for the Humor Writing segment
Akshat Nigam
In 2017, Akshat co-wrote ‘In Search of DariyaSagar’, a play that won The Hindu Playwright Award for scriptwriting that year.
He holds a Master’s Degree in English Literature and has worked in the field of Arts Education for nearly a decade. He teaches Literature, Creative Writing and Communication.Akshat has been performing as a professional Storyteller for adults and children since 2015. He debuted in ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon’. His current performance under the collective The Forty Thieves, called ‘Error 404: Life Not Found‘ opened in theatres in March 2016, while another show titled ‘An Uneasy Truce: Stories about Fear‘ opened in June 2016.
Currently, Akshat composes audio tours on Mumbai for a tourism app called Hop On India, covering Colaba, DadarParsi Colony, Elephanta and Kanheri Caves among others.
Akshat will be a mentor for the Historical fiction and Dialogue Writing segments
Apeksha Harsh holds an MA in English Literature from The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. She also has an MA in Writing from The University of Warwick, UK. During her time in the UK, she penned the Japanese folktale-based opera Kaguyahime for Operamus. Later, she worked with Writing West Midlands as an Assistant Writer for the PolesworthWrite On! Writing Squad. Apeksha’s poetry and prose has been published in Under the Radar, Ambit, Fusion, Here Comes Everyone and Eunoia Review.
She also taught creative writing to Grade 3 students at St John’s Primary School, Coventry as part of the Warwick Writing Programme in Schools (WWPS) which culminated in an anthology of creative works. As Head of Language Programmes & School Outreach at The Pomegranate Workshop, Apeksha puts her love for words at the forefront – she has conducted various writing workshops in international schools, government schools, Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), International Children’s Film Festival (ICCFI), National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), among others.
Apeksha will mentor the Poetry, Coming of Age and Science Fiction segments
Priya Srinivasan
Has worked for over 13 years in journalism where her last position was as Associate Editor for Business Today magazine. Prior to this she was with the Financial Express newspaper as Bureau Chief and with United Television for one of India’s first Business news shows – India Business Week. She has also written for Business India magazine.
In 2006 she quit journalism to set up The Pomegranate Workshop where she has curated programming across the arts drawing in practitioners from all artistic streams and has facilitated journalism and film making workshops across institutions.
Priya will be mentor for the Opinion and Editorial Writing segment
Programme requirements
Access to a computer, video call facilities and the internet
Cost per participant = Rs 15,000
Age : 13 – 17 years
Writers Flock begins on April 13, 2020 and concludes May 29, 2020.
Very limited seats to ensure maximum personal mentoring
ABOUT THE POMEGRANATE WORKSHOP
The Pomegranate Workshop is a Mumbai-based arts education company that has, for the last fourteen years, worked with leading schools to deliver co-curricular arts programming. Pomegranate’s student theatre productions have been featured at the National Center for the Performing Arts, Mumbai and in 2016, Pomegranate’s Antigone 2.0 was picked in the top 10 Theatre Picks of Mumbai by the Mumbai Theatre Guide. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Pomegranate’s student films have made it to an aggregate of 15 International Film festivals including Norway, Los Angeles, Turkey, Kenya, Bucharest and have won several awards including ‘Best Film’ in the youth category at the 19th International Children’s Film Festival of India (ICFFI). Pomegranate has worked with the National Gallery of Modern Art, The Prince of Wales Museum and has conducted several learning events in collaboration with the Australian Consulate in Mumbai. Pomegranate works with several large education NGOs on capacity building programmes. Last year,
Pomegranate conducted WeCreate 2019, a one of a kind interschool festival
themed on sustainability giving over 700+ students a platform to voice their
thoughts on the future of our planet.
Very limited seats, kindly respond soonest!
Send us an email on pomegranateworkshop@gmail.com with Full name of the participant, Name of Parent, Mobile No of the parent, school and grade of the participant, genres opted for.
You can make a bank transfer and then mail us the bank transfer details so we can confirm registration
Bank Transfer Details:
VIJAYA BANK, Matunga East Branch
ACCOUNT TYPE: CURRENT
NEFT CODE OF THE BRANCH: VIJB0005022
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 502200301000018
ACCOUNT NAME: POMEGRANATE EDUWORKSHOP PVT. LTD
For more details –
Visit the official website: www.tpw.in
Or write to us: pomegranateworkshop@gmail.com