Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean went on a whirlwind book tour and I got the chance to join Kirsty Murray, Isobelle Carmody and Samhita Arni on the Bangalore leg. We kicked off on Sunday, 16 November, at the Oxford Bookstore, where the book was—literally—launched at our Bangalore audience. There were about a dozen children, […]
Writing
Week #45: Eating the sky, drinking the ocean
Two things arrived this week: (a) Z, because of whom I became an aunt for the second time; and (b) copies of Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean! While is Z is busy getting used to the new world and will lie low in the nearish future, we’re having a grand old song and dance […]
Week #44: Slightly Burnt, the finished goods
Yesss, it’s here! Slightly Burnt is hot off the press and I’m told copies are going out to bookshops tomorrow! Slightly Burnt is a book about being different. About what happens when we don’t follow the rules that society has laid down for each of us. So what do you when you have a secret […]
Week #41: Killing some darlings
This has been a busy week—you see, I killed some of my darlings. I’m not completely sure who this priceless bit of advice originally came from. But Stephen King probably has the best take on it with his “kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your […]
Week #38: Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean
(EDIT: You can buy it here.) What happens when you take twenty writers and illustrators and ask them to imagine the future? Well, something fantastic and magical, you can be sure. We know because we did it. And the result is Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean, a collection of young adult speculative fiction—including six […]
Week #35: Freelance blogging for money?
Even though I call myself a writer, I spend a goodly portion of my working life not writing. Unless I’ve just signed a book contract, most of my income comes from copy-editing rather than writing. Most of the time, I don’t think it’s a bad way to earn a living. But that’s not to say […]
Week #34: Inspired in Germany
On my latest travels, in Germany, I started off in Berlin being suitably umimpressed. This wasn’t my idea of a European capital—it was sort of seedy and overgrown, with a distinct lack of pretty. But the more time I spent, the more it grew on me. By the time I left a week later, I […]
Week #31: Would I write for free?
A week ago, Gargi asked this question in her blog post that got me thinking: Would I write for free? Short answer: No. Slightly longer answer: Since I make part of my income as a professional writer, it would be extremely foolhardy to stop taking money for it or go around offering my services for […]
The Vani Foundation Fellowship 2014
The Vani Foundation will award four fellowships, each of Rs 20,000, to two writers and two illustrators of children’s books at Jumpstart 2014. The winners also get to attend a Jumpstart 2014 Masterclass. Fellowship Mentors Gulzar (poet, filmmaker and award-winning lyricist) Paro Anand (children’s author) Application guidelines Submissions are invited from writers in Hindi, English […]
Week #29: The Hill School project
Once upon a time, there was a coven. Its name was, well, let’s just call it A.S.P. Coven. There was also a cat, he was called Kevin. Of course, he was black. Each member of the coven was vetted by Kevin—legend had it that if he sank his teeth into your ankle, you were accepted. […]