Katha’s Search for Excellence in Creative Writing is designed to draw out the storyteller in every child and cultivate a culture of writing among young people. And to do this, we have some fabulous writing mentors who guide children into creative arts through the three days at regional level!
Here is a list of regional writing mentors we have had from all over the country, who have mentored children at regional writers’ for workshops:
Arundhati is a graduate of sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, with an undergrad in history from Miranda House. She has dabbled in travel writing, sports writing, and a combination of the two where she spent two IPLs for Wisden India travelling around the country writing about the relationship of cities to cricket. She has made and extensively written about several solo journeys around the country and the world – all of which have sharpened her identity as a young, independent woman in a world that has not yet figured out what to do with them. She is currently working with a feminist collective, called ANANDI, in rural Gujarat, where she leads the public health and young women’s leadership programs. Through all her work, she continues to romance long-form writing, and the pursuit of perfect words in all the six languages she speaks.
In the past 8 years, Andaleeb Wajid has published 13 novels of which 3 are e-books on the Juggernaut platform. Andaleeb’s Young Adult novel When She Went Away was shortlisted for The Hindu Young World GoodBooks award 2017. Andaleeb enjoys writing about food and her most well-known novel is More than Just Biryani, a book of food and love. Her young adult novel Asmara’s Summer is very popular among teens and tweens.
The Never Ending Story
Ever wondered how writers get ideas? How do they make them into a story? And most importantly, why does a story end? Why can’t it just go on and on and on? At this workshop with Andaleeb, you will learn to use your wildest ideas, string them together and come up with stories that might or might not end
Applause Vadodara is Vadodara’s first and the most unique theatre initiative open for all – with an age no bar, language no bar, gender no bar and profession no bar type of participation. Theatre enthusiasts from various professions work by day and meet in the evenings to realize their theatre aspirations.
Applause started as a facebook page connecting theatre enthusisasts together in 2012, and emerged as a group by 2014, hosting workshops of Dramatics, and writing and producing plays. In the last two years Applause has created various properties such as the annual 10-Day theatre workshop ‘Step on Stage’, ‘Paper Poets’ and ‘Pen Stories’, connecting people to art, culture and theatre. The “Applause Theatre Yatra” being one of the most recent additions, where in groups of participants engage in theatre experiences through travel, outside the city. This year Applause hosted a two-city, three day Storytelling Festival in May, 2016 across Vadodara and Ahmadabad, through 8 events for different age groups. Applause has also collaborated with a number of agencies for various regular theatre programs for children and adults.
Artists from Applause Vadodara have performed at various theatre festivals across the country such as Bharat Rang Mahotsav (NSD, Delhi) and Chitralekha Natya Sparda (Mumbai) and have also mentored college and school students to actively engage in Dramatics.
Applause Vadodara aims to create value in society via theatre and connect more and more people to art.
Avani is a trained counselor with 9 years of experience working with women and relationship issues ranging from abuse and sexual assault to healthy relationship paradigms and self love. In 2008, she started Kiran, a South Asian Domestic Violence Agency in the US, where she worked closely with the community to raise awareness about domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. In 2014 she started LoveDoctor, a platform for young people to get confidential advice about sexual health are relationships, serving people via chat, whatsapp, snapchat and Facebook. In 2016, LoveDoctor merged with SHEROES, making it a women-only space for sex and relationship advice. She now serves as Director of Empathy at SHEROES,
overseeing the SHEROES helpline, empathy in the SHEROES online platform, and strategic partnerships
Drashil Shastri works as a senior editor for a college magazine – Renesa. He is a visiting resource person
for BalBhavan, Baroda, where he does Creative Writing Workshops with kids in the age group 9-16. He
is also doing freelance writing for websites and sports blogs. Drashil is a National Level Debater and a
Quizzer. He was conferred with the National Bal Shree Award for Creative Writing in 2010.
Joint Acting Head, Associate Professor, Stream Head, Film Course Coordinator
Amity School of Communication, Amity University, Noida
Qualifications: PhD Research Scholar (Mass Communication), Diploma in Cinema, FTII, Pune, MA( Journalism and Mass communication), ICDEOL, HP university, BA ( Economics) Delhi University, UGC-NET, Junior Fellow (2000-2002) Department of culture, Ministry of HRD
Educationist, Actor
She has been working in the field of Creative Education for twelve years. She has been a part of Facilitation, content development and Teacher Training. She has worked with NGOs and companies like Shelter Don Bosco, Credibility Alliance, CSR project by RPG called Pehlay Akshar, Muktangan, The Pomegranate Workshop etc on Managerial level posts.
She has been practising and learning various forms of Theater with different groups and has also performed at stages like, Kamani Auditorium, NCPA (Mumbai) and Prithvi Theater. A varied experience in theater has given her an insight into Theater in Education, which she utilises in her work to the fullest. She has conducted Reading programs and Life skills programs in schools, colleges and with teachers.
She is a Master’s in Human Development from S.N.D.T Women’s University, Mumbai. She has spent her childhood living in various places which has added to her understanding of people and cultures. She is a passionate performer and also, a painter. She loves to paint on T-shirts and walls.
She takes great pride in sharing that she was elected College President while studying for her Graduation at Lady Irwin College, Delhi
ves to paint on T-shirts and walls.
Stories were an integral part of Lavanya’s childhood. She strongly believes that the shortest distance between any two people is a story.The result of her vision for a better society and her passion of using stories for the same,resulted in founding of Tale’scope, her brain child in 2014. Tale’scope works with all audience and specializes in training, using stories.”How all audience?”If you ask her, “because everyone has a story to tell”,she smiles.
You can reach her at talescope.blr@gmail.com and follow her work at www.facebook.com/Taleescope
Mamang Dai is an Indian journalist, author, poet, and former civil servant based in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. She authored Katha’s The Sky Queen storybook for children.
Merry Baruah Bora is an Assistant Professor (Sr) in the Department of English, Cotton University, Guwahati. Her interest lies in Indian English Writings and North East Writings. She had received her PhD from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT, Guwahati in 2010. She has contributed articles to research journals; written chapters for both (Major) and PG (English) textbooks under Krishna Kanta Handique State Open University. A former Visiting Faculty at TISS (Guwahati Campus), Dr Baruah has interest in translation work. She has translated Resource Material for WWF into Assamese besides translating into English short fiction from original Assamese writing.
Nisha Abdulla is a playwright and theatre practitioner. Her play ‘Mi’raj’ has been performing to full houses since August 2016, while ‘Blue is the Colour I Cry’ was long-listed at The Hindu Playwright Award 2017. Her short plays have been performed at the Short+Sweet festival, and as school productions. Currently, she is learning theatre direction at the Indian Ensemble Directors’ Training Program.
Nisha is also co-founder, writer and performer at Ever After Learning, an organisation that seeks to develop and promote the use of stories in various learning environments. She has performed at and facilitated multiple storytelling workshops for children and adults in Bangalore and across India, and recently in Muscat, Beijing and Thailand.
The founder of “A Better Word,” an organisation that promotes the love of writing for anyone interested in the craft of it, the organization has helped over 800 students in small group settings and one-on-one sessions since its inception in 2012. She believes children are more engaged and enthusiastic about learning when their imaginations are ignited. In 2014, Sharoon organized a writing competition and compiled the winning entries into an anthology of children’s stories and Haikus. With over a decade’s experience teaching children from kindergarten to graduate school in the United States and in Bangalore, India, she is currently using her experience in student learning patterns to research the best ways to help young learns unravel the complexity of writing as a PhD scholar at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad.
Sharoon has over a decade’s experience teaching English language and literature to university students. Having discovered the joy writing brings to her, she’s made it her life’s mission to research ways to pass this joy on to young learners. As professor of English, she was instrumental in setting up the writing lab, at Christ University, Bangalore and has worked with many different organizations in capacity building in the areas learning and development.
Sourabha Rao is a writer from Mysuru, currently living in Bengaluru. Although she graduated as a Computer Science Engineer and worked in the IT industry for nearly two years, she always knew that her calling was writing and wanted to pursue her passion and make it her profession, too. Currently working as the Staff Writer at India’s leading travel-and-photography company, Toehold, Sourabha also writes poetry, essays, travel stories and prose in her free time in both Kannada and English. She loves reading, singing and travelling. She has a child’s unquestionable trust on the power of writing and all other forms of art.
https://www.amazon.com/Silkworm-Slumbers-Sourabha-Rao/dp/1523446188
Designer. Storyteller. Educator
A designer, storyteller and educator, Sumedha studied Visual Communication in New Delhi and completed her Masters in Narrative Environments from Central Saint Martins, London.
Through a process driven and participatory approach, she designs narrative based experiences around people, places and stories. She believes story telling is an immersive and experiential language and weaves stories through mediums of art, music, theatre, writing, film, exhibition and space.
Passionate about innovation in education; she also designs, develops and delivers courses and workshops for learning, connecting and healing through the creative arts. Sumedha is currently an Assistant Professor at the Sushant School of Design, Ansal University.
Srutimala Duara is a bilingual writer from Assam, India. She writes in English and Assamese.
The Sunset and Other Stories (Spectrum, 1998), Waiting for the Last Breath (Spectrum, 1999), The Jhoolan Evening (Spectrum, 2000) are her short story collections in English. Traveling with Dreams (Spectrum, 2001), Maya’s Party (BR Publishing Corp, 2003) and Ashes in the Seas (BR Pub Corp, 2003) are her English novels. Maan Gahanat (1997) is her short story collection in Assamese. Her books for children are Sadhukathar Desh(1995), Sadhukathar Bagicha (1996), Sadhukathar Tupula (1996) which was selected by National Book Trust as One of the Best Indian Children’s Literature published between 1990-98
Grand Prize for Creative Writing (Haiku) in Katha Utsav Delhi 2014-15 organised by CBSE (National level)
Poem selected for publishing by British Council of India in Tagore’s book (his birth anniversary) in 2011-12.
1st in Regional Level Science Model Exhibition. (2014)
1st in Cyberia Computer Debate 2012
Certificate of Merit in All India Essay Writing Competition 2011
Certificate of Merit in International Marrs Spelling Bee Regional Round 2012-13
Awards in 6-7 regional elocutions and debates in the city of Vadodara (Runner up and winners positions)
Young Orator Award in Surat 2014 (Runner Up)
Youngest mentor in Katha Regional 2016
onal 2016
Suverchala Kashyap is an accomplished educationist, communicator and journalist. She has a versatile background, with a dual degree (Masters) in Botany and Education, topped with a diploma in Journalism and Communication.
A seasoned team leader, her forte is extracting the best from everyone. Mentoring is strength. She has been instrumental in defining a large part of the career goals of several students at the school and university level. Was the founder principal of a reputed school in Vadodara, having taken it to national and international heights. She nurtured a personal and professional dream, by focusing on extracting and chiseling the inherent talents of individuals: students, parents and teachers.
She is actively involved in projects revolving around inclusive education and working to integrate the disadvantaged children of society. She has been the recipient of three national level awards for topping in the North zone in the field of Journalism and for excellence and innovation in education, subsequently
She was an International Associate (India) for Aspire Trust Liverpool, UK (www.aspire-trust.org). She is also working closely with Daksh Autism Services, Bangalore as their Gujarat counterpart and advisor. She has in the past also been closely associated with Bhasha Publication and Research Centre, Vadodara as a volunteer and later as a Trustee.
Shiv D. Sharma is one of the founding team members of, and currently the Manager, Research & Projects at the Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality at Ashoka University. He has been involved in queer politics for many years, and was also a member of Delhi-based collective called Queer Campus. Shiv conducts workshops on many issues and questions related to gender and sexuality; sexual harassment, public culture etc. His broader areas of inquiry include the subjects of desire, masculinity and visual culture.
Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty is a Delhi-based journalist with over two decades of experience in reporting and editing news besides ideating news stories. After spending six years in the news agency, the United News of India, she worked for The Hindu for 12 years and is presently associated with the online news site The Wire.
Besides writing on books, arts, lifestyle, health and culture, she also specializes on the northeast region, its politics and the people. She is also a translator.
Vikram Sridhar is a Performance storyteller and theatre practitioner based in Bangalore, India. He is the co-founder of Tahatto, a Bangalore-based award winning theatre group. He has volunteered and worked with different organizations in the Animal welfare and conservation space from his childhood days .And also consults and works with organizations in the social sector. He combines the three in his Storytelling to make a difference. An engineer and Management graduate by qualification from premier institutes of India like the IIT, he performs his stories across various spaces and cities in India for children and adults alike. He’s a TEDx speaker and speaks about the power of Oral Storytelling in the contemporary times. He also part of the organizing team and curates events and Festivals around Storytelling and Theatre like the Bangalore Literature Festival. Bengaluru Poetry Festival, the BeSt (Bengaluru Storytelling) Festival etc.
Around the Story Tree is his initiative to reach out to children and adults from different backgrounds through storytelling, using stories and folktales in a contemporary form as a strong medium for conservation and human relationships to connect listeners to their environment.
Vikramjit Singh Rooprai is a Heritage Activist, who started his career as a Software Engineer. While he still consults with few MNCs as their Digital Marketing Consultant, he spends most of his time promoting and protecting the Heritage of India. He is the founder of Delhi Heritage Photography Club and Youth for Heritage Foundation. His organization conducts exhibitions, walks and lectures at Corporates, Colleges and Schools.
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