Deadline: 20 July 2022.
Zubaan Publishers Writing Workshop Program 2022 (Writing is For Everybody: A Mentored Workshop) – across India
Applications are now open for the Zubaan Publishers Writing Workshop Program 2022. Zubaan Publishers and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, under the Fragrance of Peace project, are organizing a writing workshop for women, queer, trans and non-binary persons from marginalized communities across India.
This workshop, the first in a series, aims to help young writers while questioning and challenging the hierarchies that surround written literature. Following our work with academics and writers in the Northeast to document oral histories, we seek to widen the space for young and emerging writers from oppressed and disadvantaged communities, as well as develop solidarity-building platforms, via the power of writing one’s own stories.
Writing is inherently a sociopolitical act. Who writes and what/who is written about mirrors existing power relations and structural inequalities. It is not surprising, then, that writing has generally been reserved for individuals who bear marks of dominating identities. As a knowledge-producing organization, we believe in using our networks and resources to foster interactions in which individuals may tell their stories and design strategies to discuss their realities on their own terms.
Writing is For Everyone: A Mentored Workshop is a free online workshop and short-term mentoring program that identifies and seeks to fight writing hierarchies by making the writing process accessible through the mentorship of writers Parismita Singh and Ather Zia.
Workshop Structure
The selected applicants will be invited to join the workshop along with a draft version of a piece they are currently working on. Participants will attend two sessions in September over one weekend (dates to be decided), led by four authors and the curators. These sessions will work toward deconstructing various stages of the writing process. We will also have an optional and brief in-house session on publishing feminist literature.
Following this, participants will have two weeks to revise their drafts based on what they learned in the sessions. They will be encouraged to contact their mentors, who will guide them through the writing process during this time. Following that, a final feedback session with the mentors will be place on a mutually agreed-upon date, and the workshop time will conclude. In addition, after finishing the session, participants will receive a letter of acknowledgement from Zubaan.
The workshop will be conducted in English, for English language pieces, with due focus on the structures of power within the colonial language. We hope to conduct future workshops in other regional languages of the subcontinent.
Eligibility Criteria
- This workshop is open to women, queer, trans and non-binary people from marginalized communities, with a preference for those who have not previously attended writing workshops.
- Since the workshop is catering to writers of creative feminist fiction and nonfiction, we require the writer’s draft piece of choice to fall under these categories.
- Selected applicants must commit to participating in all the workshop sessions, reworking/revising their draft piece in consultation with the mentors, and attending a final feedback session with the team.
Shortlist and selection of grantees
All applications will be screened by a selection committee based on internal criteria. Selected applicants will be informed by the first week of August. The committee’s decision will be final.
Duration
The total duration of the program will be three weeks, starting from the two-day weekend workshop in September (dates to be decided), including the mentorship, reworking/revising of drafts based on feedback with a final session with the curators, and the Zubaan team.
How to Apply
Applicants should prepare an original feminist fiction or nonfiction piece of their own writing, of no more than 2500 words, in English. This could also be a piece they are currently working on.
Fill out the application form and upload the draft work HERE
If you are having trouble filling out the google form or have any queries about the workshop in general, please email [email protected] with the subject line’ Queries for Writing Workshop
