Suspenseful Writing Workshop: March 30 & 31

Two–Day Suspenseful Writing Workshop 

Saturday, 30 March and Sunday, 31 March 2013

Toto Funds the Arts (TFA), in association with British Council Library, Bangalore is pleased to announce a workshop on Writing Detective Novels and Suspenseful Stories, which will be conducted by Zac O’Yeah.

Venue: British Council Library, Prestige Takt, 23 Kasturba Road Cross (Opposite Visvesvaraiah Industrial and Technological Museum), Bangalore

Dates: Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 March 2013

Time:  2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on both days

Fee:  Rs 1,200 inclusive of tea

Note to applicants (between 18 and 35 years):

Since we can accommodate a limited number of participants, we will have to necessarily screen applicants. Please answer the following: (1) Name your favourite detective/thriller/mystery books and writers (2) How often do you write fiction? (3) What do you find most difficult when you try to write a story? Email the answers to tfaindia84@gmail.com (with a copy to sarita.tfaindia@gmail.com) by March 12 at the latest to help us choose the participants.

About the workshop:

Zac O’Yeah will initiate an interactive discussion on suspense, thrills, plotting and the craft of writing popular detective stories, and set a writing assignment, which will be discussed and evaluated.

About the facilitator:

ZAC O’YEAH is the author of Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan (2010) and Mr Majestic (2012) published by Hachette India. He worked in the theatre and music business in Sweden until he retired early, at 25, to come to India. His 12 published books range from bestselling detective fiction to history and travelogue, and he has also translated Indian literature into Swedish.

Mridula Koshy and Nisha Susan: Reading Fiction

Toto Funds the Arts

in association with

The British Council Library

is pleased to invite you to a reading of

Mridula Koshy’s Not Only the Things that Have Happened

She will be in conversation with Nisha Susan, who will also read from her short story ‘The Gentle Reader’

Date and Time:  Saturday, 23 February 2013, 6.30 p.m.

Venue:  The British Library, Prestige Takt, 23 Kasturba Road Cross, Bangalore

Fiction writer Mridula Koshy’s first collection of short stories If It Is Sweet (Tranquebar Press, 2009; Brass Monkey, 2011) won the 2009 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and was shortlisted for the 2009 Vodafone Crossword Book Award.  Not Only the Things That Have Happened is her first novel. She lives in New Delhi and Portland, Oregon.

Winner of the very first TOTO award for creative writing (2006), Nisha Susan is a writer and journalist. She was Features Editor at Tehelka magazine in Delhi. Before journalism, she lived the NGO life in Bangalore for five years. She is currently working on a novel and a book on Malayali nurses. Also a poet and short fiction writer, Susan’s works have been published in various anthologies and journals.

About Not Only the Things That Have Happened

A woman relinquishes her four-year-old son to tourists passing through town; losing him, she loses the story of her future. A world away from her, the boy becomes a man without the story of his past. Not Only the Things That Have Happened is the story of how we remember and forget. It is about stories that make us and break us and remake us.

“Intimate, epic, haunting …”                   ––Jeet Thayil

“A walk through the cellars of memory and a distressing exposure of the institutions we must depend on.”                                        –– Annie Zaidi

“It is a remarkably self-assured work, and it feels slightly humbling to be in the presence of a literary talent like this.”                               –– India Today

Jury Citations for Winning and Shortlisted Entries for the Toto Awards 2013 for Short Film

The jury for these awards comprised Paromita Vohra, filmmaker, writer, teacher and curator; Gitanjali Rao, animation film maker, winner of the Cannes Award for her short film ‘Printed Rainbow’ and teacher of animation, illustration and visual story telling; and Surabhi Sharma, a filmmaker and teacher.

Their comments on the winning and shortlisted entries for the Toto Awards for Short Film are below: 

Raam Reddy (Winner) for 'IKA' ('Feather')

Seemingly simple, this evocative film has a sharp eye, a warm, wise heart and a clear intellect. The film’s many layers were handled with remarkable lightness of touch and fluency of film language. The filmmakers displayed a confidence and sincerity in storytelling and filmmaking evident through the pace, the shot-taking, the handling of actors, all of which were exceptional. 'IKA' is an example of how a careful, clear crafting can create an almost documentary sense of warmth and spontaneity. In a few fluid minutes it takes us into a story, a world and another life, creating pleasure and empathy as only art can.

Anoop Sathyan (Winner) for 'A Dream Called America'

This disarming documentary is made with extraordinary maturity and complexity. It tells the story of a family living through material and emotional transition without judgment, with affection and respect, without reducing people to types, without telling us what to think. Most importantly, the film never uses intimacy as currency to intrude on the private lives of the less privileged, even while telling a very personal story. The extreme open-heartedness and political respectfulness of the film, and the use of a simple yet consistent documentary style help to draw out the nuances of the tale and tell a compelling story of our times. 

Yashaswini (Special Mention) for 'Site Mapping'

The rhythm of filmmaking and the rhythm of dance come together with assertive energy in this film. Physical space, the memory of labour it holds, light and movement convey abstract ideas with satisfying complexity and clarity.

Anusha Nandakumar (Special Mention) for ‘Sita Haran and Other Stories’

The unique and enjoyable visual style of this film combines the folk and contemporary with whimsicality and flair. It is especially notable for its ability to use filmmaking language to evoke wonder and a sense of magic in a very similar way to the folk form it uses.

Diksha Grover (Special Mention) for ‘Vanity Box’

A short film with a large canvas. Using one location and moment it pulls in a range of emotional threads to make a dramatic interweave and play with ideas of self and others, love and despair, choice and longing. These ambitious human concerns overcome its slightly hesitant filmmaking.