Ahmedabad University Bookstore
University Centre
Central Campus
What constitutes a narrative both in fiction and non-fiction? How can you come up with a plot or storyline? Why do certain characters feature more strongly than others? And what really makes up a good story?
In the first iteration of the Writing Residency, Resident Writers Anukrti Upadhyay and Radhika Iyengar will challenge the premises of the craft of writing in this conversation with Pallavi Narayan, Director, Ahmedabad Writing Programme. Seeking parallels and resonances in each other's writing, they will discuss the value of deep research, close observation and compassion while crafting their narratives. Their focus will range from old, local communities in storied cities (which indeed hold vast differences) to marginalised communities to strong female protagonists breaking norms. They will also discuss their engagement with literary festivals and how the Indian literary landscape contributes to their craft.
Anukrti Upadhyay has written a doctoral thesis on human relationships in Hindi short stories of the post-1960s. She writes fiction and poetry in both English and Hindi. Her English works, twin novellas Daura (2019) and Bhaunri (2019) and novel Kintsugi (2020), have been published by the 4th Estate imprint of HarperCollins India and have been nominated for awards. She has been awarded the Sushila Devi Award for the best work of fiction written by a woman author in 2020 for Kintsugi. Her latest work, a short-story collection titled The Blue Women (2023) has recently been released by HarperCollins India. Her Hindi works, a short-story collection, Japani Sarai (2019) and novel Neena Aunty (2021) have been published by Rajpal and Sons. Her writings have appeared in Scroll, Kitaab, The Bombay Review, The Bangalore Review, The Bilingual Window and several Hindi publications.
Radhika Iyengar is an award-winning journalist based in Mumbai, who writes on arts and culture, marginalised communities, history and gender. She is the author of a debut non-fiction book, Fire on the Ganges: Life among the Dead in Banaras, published by HarperCollins India, for which she won the Gaurang River Prize for Best Non-Fiction (2024) and the Kalinga Literary Award (Youth). Fire on the Ganges was longlisted for the Times of India AutHer Awards for Best Debut Book 2024 as well. Iyengar is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, New York. She won the Red Ink Award for Excellence in Indian Journalism (2018) and has been a recipient of the Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship and Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellowship, and has been a writer-in-residence at the Sangam House Residency. Her work has appeared in Al Jazeera, Slate, Atlas Obscura, Hyperallergic, The Indian Express, Open magazine, Scroll.in, Vogue, Conde Nast Traveller, among other publications
Pallavi Narayan is Associate Professor of Practice, School of Arts and Sciences, Ahmedabad University and Director, Ahmedabad Writing Programme, and is establishing the University Press. She has authored Pamuk's Istanbul: The Self and the City (2022) and edited Singapore at Home: Life across Lines (2021). She has been the recipient of multiple fellowships such as the Jalan Besar Fellowship of Sing Lit Station; South Asia Speaks; Frankfurt Fellowship of the Frankfurter Buchmesse; Koc University Center for Asian Studies in Istanbul; and CHCI-Mellon Global Humanities on Translation in Chile and Migration in Taiwan.
