On the busiest time of the year
An overview of the first quarter of 2024 and call for submissions!
Hi folks,
Hope you’re well. I wanted to share updates from my creative life with all of you. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to do what I love. Growing up, I could only dream about a creative life. It’s taken me 15 years of consistent showing up at my desk, and the support of wonderful folks like you to be able to do this today. Grateful!
Sharing some highlights of the past three months. (The last section of this newsletter has a list of places to submit to, so stay tuned!)
Jaipur Lit Fest
Everyone in the publishing industry knows that THE Indian publishing industry is Delhi. Period. Just like how Bollywood is Bombay. So you can imagine how great it was for me as a Mumbaikar to go to JLF, one of the most talked about lit fests in the world, and meet friends in publishing. While I have been in touch with wonderful folks in publishing via social media, email, whatsapp etc meeting them in person was an unforgettable experience. It was also my first time visiting a place in North India.
As a writer with a debut novel coming out in October this year (Tranquebar, Westland), and as an avid reader/interviewer who loves consuming books and interviewing authors (Books and Beyond, Bound), this was a huge milestone for me. The sessions were incredibly fulfilling. The best part was experiencing JLF’s magic through the eyes of Bound, a storytelling company based out of Bombay, where I’m the Executive Editor.
Parties at JLF is a thing one mustn’t miss out on. Luckily, I got to attend the HarperCollins India party. It was the icing on the cake. This is me at the palace where the party happened:
Bound Writers’ Retreat, Goa
It was super fun to be back mentoring at Bound’s retreats. We had gone online briefly during the pandemic, SO it felt awesome to connect with writers in person once again. My mentees worked across genres from novels to memoirs to poetry collections. Seeing the range and depth of their work blew my mind. As a mentor I pushed them to take their craft to the next level.
We had the retreat in Chorao Island this time. We combatted Goa’s heat with lemonade, kokum, and yummy authentic Goan food like pao and xacuti.
Here’s a glimpse of me in my workshop:
Publishing Next Awards
Editors are highly underrated. They work tirelessly to polish your manuscript and vouch for it. Yet their names rarely appear in public. Publishing Next's awards spotlight the 'Editor of the Year' and other publishing professionals. It was a pleasure to be a juror once again. The Indian publishing industry has some of the smartest and most interesting editors whose work I deeply admire. Grateful for being a part of this endeavour which recognises talent in the publishing industry.
Books
I had set out a goal this year to read as many books as possible outside work, I’m sharing one book that has left a mark on me.
And they lived ever after: Disabled women retell fairytales (Harpercollins India, 2024)
This book made me so happy. As a child who consumed fairytales on screen, I couldn't relate much to the characters because they weren't brown or Indian and set a very unrealistic beauty standard. This book takes fairytales as we know them and sets them in Indian settings, and features characters who don't fit the norm of typical beauty standards in fairytales. There's a problematic trope in horror and fairytales where people with disabilities are portrayed as evil etc Loved how this book subverts that.
Rejections
I've been writing short stories for years. I love the form. Sometimes you think you have made it, and sometimes you think you haven’t. I’ve submitted to the Commonwealth Short Story Prize a few times before. This year I was hoping to be longlisted at least. It didn't happen. This one line in the rejection email stopped me from breaking down-
‘remember that last year Kwame McPherson won the prize at his seventh attempt. So don’t let this stop you. Keep going. Keep writing!’
Calls for submissions
You know I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to share with the writing community, there are very few in India, so one should make the most of them.
Here are some whose deadlines are approaching-
The Desperate Literature Prize- Sponsored by Helter Skelter
The Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize celebrates the best of new short fiction from around the world. In addition to cash awards and writing retreats, Prize-winning and shortlisted authors have the opportunity to be published in multiple print and online journals, and have their work presented to literary agents in multiple countries. As a partner publication, this year, Helter Skelter is offering fully sponsored entries to the prize for five Indian writers.
Deadline: 30th April, 2024
The Vijay Nambisan Poetry Fellowship
The Poetry Fellowship is awarded every year to an established poet or a new, promising talent from India. The selected fellow is offered a two-week writing retreat at Sangam House in Bangalore.( www.sangamhouse.org). It includes board and lodge but not the travel expenses. We invite poets to apply by sending a one-page statement of purpose, including details of the project they wish to work on, a bio-data including list of publications, and three to four poems to Kavery Nambisan at kavery.nambisan@gmail.com
Deadline: 30th April, 2024
The application process for Sangam House Season 17 is now open.
Our next residency will run from November 1, 2024 -- January 31, 2025. We will be located in Bangalore at The Jamun.
Residencies will be granted in one-month cohorts. (November 1-30, December 1-31 and January 1-31.) In some cases, shorter residencies are possible.
Deadline: 30th June, 2024
As the newly-minted Purple Pencil Project Publishers (or P4), we are overjoyed to be already announcing our third book, an anthology of stories around rural, tribal and grassroots hope and triumph in India, and stories from the hinterlands.
We are looking for stories that portray the challenges of the hinterlands of the country, what it takes to overcome them, and what more needs to be still done for mass-development.
Deadline: 23rd May, 2024
We publish three times a year: April, August and December. We accept unpublished submissions in five categories: fiction, graphic fiction, poetry, translated fiction and translated poetry.
We reopen for submissions (for Issue 58) on May 01, 2024. The submit form will be made available at that time. We do not accept email submissions.
Payment: We pay an honorarium of ₹ 5,000 (approx. $61 or €51) per contribution.
If you liked this newsletter, please let me know, and please write to me about your own creative life. I know how difficult it is to sustain a creative career, so we must celebrate every small win and not brood over every loss! Keep trying.
Stay happy, healthy, and creative!