Workshop on 'Act of Writing' at KBM school in Margao

GW member José Lourenço and writer Anwesha Singbal held a workshop on the Act of Writing on 4th March 2017 for students of the Ravindra Kelekar Dnyanmandir school at Margao. Some notes on the session from José: 

The secondary school students of Konkani Bhasha Mandal's RKD School are quite fluent in Konkani and English. A batch of 16 of them trooped in and took their seats, with notebooks in hand, eagerly waiting for the pearls of wisdom from my and Anwesha's distinguished mouths. Anwesha Singbal is a Sahitya Akademi award winner for youth literature. And I am a distinguished Goa Writers member!  

I had brought along my notebooks containing my story and poem notes, handwritten manuscripts and a tattered old scrapbook of bits and pieces of paper with ideas for stories. I told of how I wrote stories in Konkani and then took my 'homework' to Damodar Mauzo for editing and grammar corrections. Mauzo is a founder GW member, always ready to help and critique new writers. So, I told the students, writing is a skill that has to be worked on, with help from mentors, just as they study under their schoolteachers.   

I then explained how the ideas for stories come from all around us, from our memories and even from our dreams. This was then illustrated through a few of my stories. "Stories need not be stereotyped imitations of the folktales of ancient times, and we need not mimic Enid Blyton or the Harry Potter stories", I said, urging them to be fresh and original in their writing. The children had written some poems and stories of their own, which were discussed. They had a lot of questions. One lad wanted to know how all these different languages developed in the first place. They were also quite well read in both English and Konkani literature for their age.

Anwesha told them of how her father Arun Singbal, a Konkani writer, kept diaries for most of his life, and how this habit helped him as a writer. She explained how she writes her poetry and where her ideas come from. Having worked as a journalist in a local daily, she also spoke of journalistic writing. The students were then asked to write a creative text or an opinion piece, which was discussed at a followup session.

- José Lourenço

This was one of a series of ten workshops held by Goa Writers' members, funded by the sales proceeds of the Inside Out anthology.   

Creative Writing workshop for Management students at Assagao

A Creative Writing Workshop was held by GW member Anita Pinto  for students of the DMC College of Management, Assagao, Goa on 8th October 2016. 20 third-year students participated in this workshop. Anita gives us a report:

The Goa Writers group had decided to have its members hold workshops for students as part of its program to promote writing among the young. On 8^thOctober 2016 I held a Creative Writing Workshop for 20 aspiring third year students of the DMC College of Management, Assagaon, Goa. It turned out to be a learning experience for me.

I began by giving them a check to see if they were right or left brain oriented. I gave them examples of how one can think out of the box. I showed them pictures on slides and asked them to think objectively and subjectively and give me slogans. They understood the concept and gave me examples of their own.

Perhaps I tried to cover too much too fast. I moved straight into the mapping of a story, speaking of genre, character, plot, etc. The students had limitations in their English grammar and this is because most don’t read. I explained it all with the help of a Power Point program map, starting lines, clues, illustrations etc. I then asked them to begin writing their own story.

I invited Alexyz of the Goa Writers group, to show them simple ways to illustrate a story. He did a brilliant job of emotions and Warli Art figures which anyone could do. The result? "Once Upon a Time" stories with school-like tales of bravery and concluded with "the moral of the story is…" I was devastated. Where had I gone wrong? But as I said, it was a learning experience for me.

I took the same students again as a part of my Creative Writing Class I was taking for them as part of their syllabus. I had to SHOW them how to create a story or to create any piece of writing. I sent them for a walk onto the college grounds. When they returned, I gave them a free writing exercise where they wrote nonstop for two minutes without thinking. I then made them underline the words, nouns and verbs that recurred or stood out in their writing. I asked them to analyse the underlined words, gather their thoughts and write only two paragraphs on anything. And what do you know? They came up with some good creative writing, deep, honest and from the heart.

 - Anita Pinto

This was one of a series of ten workshops held by Goa Writers' members, funded by the sales proceeds of the Inside Out anthology.   

Creative Writing Workshop at Chowgule College, Margao

GW member Jessica Faleiro conducted a two-part Creative Writing workshop at Parvatibai Chowgule College in Margao, on 16th December 2016 and 23^rd February 2017. Here's a report from Jessica:

After discussions with their English department, we decided to have the workshop in two parts:

Part 1 was held on 16^th December 2016.  It was a half-day session in the morning, covering the main elements of what makes a story and how to improve a story, and included ways of coming up with ideas for stories. I also conducted writing exercises with the students so that they each left the workshop with two to three bits of writing that they could then develop further into stories, if they wanted to. Sixteen students (mostly from English Literature and Creative Writing departments) attended this session, including three teachers and a visiting teacher of Linguistics from Australia. Most of the group were attentive, engaged and were open to sharing their own varied writing experiences.

Part 2 was held on 23^rd February 2017, as another half-day session. Students were instructed to bring in their own written work and photocopies were made and circulated to all present. The students had to read and peer review each other’s work, while I facilitated. I also illustrated how they could revise and edit their own work and modeled how they should take on as well as give constructive criticism. There were seven return students from the first session, and two new students as well as one teacher present for the second session. I was told that since most students were working on their term projects which were due later that week, they found it difficult to attend.  I guessed that a few students were fearful of having their work reviewed in class, so decided not to show up. 

That was fine because it meant that the students who were present wanted to be there, and had more attention given to their work and how to improve it. The students were lively, engaged, gave interesting comments and asked thoughtful questions. I spent extra time after class with students who wanted me to review other pieces they had been working on. There were two students who were keen on becoming travel writers and we had a brief discussion about travel writing. Another student had already published a couple of books online and shared his experience with the class. Later he and I discussed some story ideas he was working on and he felt he’d really benefited from attending both workshops.

In all, the students provided very positive feedback to the English Literature and Creative Writing teachers, who relayed their comments to me. Thanks for the opportunity! I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

- Jessica Faleiro

This was one of a series of ten workshops held by Goa Writers' members, funded by the sales proceeds of the Inside Out anthology.   

Reading workshops at Broadway Book Centre and Hamara School at Panjim

Book Reading workshops were held by GW member Jugneeta Sudan at Broadway Book Center, Panjim on 13th September 2016 and 3rd February 2017. Here's a report from Jugneeta:

I undertook book readings with children of Hamara School. St Inez. The first session was held in fall, 2016. The centenary celebrations of the beloved author Roald Dahl were in full swing last year all around the world. I took the opportunity to take these children on a journey with the children's fiction of Roald Dahl. The reading was held in Broadway Book Center. The workshop entailed a power point presentation, book readings and follow up activity. Mr Khalil Ahmed, the proprietor of Broadway, kindly made the complete book set available to us for use during the reading. Mrs Wagle, the founder of Hamara School, and her teachers too joined the two-hour reading session. The school purchased books, and on behalf of Goa Writers I too bought a set of six books and presented it to the school. 

The second reading was held in spring, 2017. This time we gathered at the Hamara school premises in Panjim. In the intervening period, at least 7-8 children of the original 25 had read two or more titles of the Roald Dahl set, now available to them in their school library. We first had a discussion of their personal experience with the writings of the author. Then we moved on to the Scholastic publication of the Geronimo Stilton adventures (originally in Italian), that a donor had presented to the school. 

We tried working around various connotations of words colourfully highlighted in the storybooks. The children were absolutely delighted with this exercise. 'Black Beauty' and 'Heidi', the children's classics came next. We went over a context and synopsis of the two books. They have promised to read them (specially Gayatri, Divya, Diksha, Gloria and Salim) before our next reading together. 

It was a very rewarding experience for me. Thank you GW!

- Jugneeta Sudan

This was one of a series of ten workshops held by Goa Writers' members, funded by the sales proceeds of the Inside Out anthology.   

Workshop on 'The Art of Translation' at Dogears bookshop, Margao

The Art of Translation: Practicalities, Pitfalls and Pratfalls, a translation workshop was conducted by Dr. Paul Melo e Castro, on the 14th of Jan, 2017 at Dogears bookshop in Margao. GW member Leonard Fernandes, the proprietor of Dogears coordinated the workshop.  

The participants were: Joaquim Correia Afonso, Vincent Correia Afonso, Ze Carlos, Isabel Santa Rita Vas, Edith Furtado, Delilah Pacheco, Carmen Peres, Steve Anderson, Noel Mark Sequeira  and Augusto Pinto.

"That was a very interesting session on translation by Paul Melo e Castro. Personally, I found it very thought provoking. It answered many of the questions that arose while I was doing my small stint of translation recently; it also raised others. It was a nice mix of participants, quite a large group, from young students to older persons who are translating stories for children, some who translate legal documents, and translators from or to different languages."    
- Isabel de Santa Rita Vas

"Thoroughly enjoyed Paul's workshop based on his experience of translating short stories from Portuguese into English. Paul as always, had a lot to share and there was much  to learn."    
- Edith Furtado

This was one of a series of ten workshops held by Goa Writers' members, funded by the sales proceeds of the Inside Out anthology.